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THE AMERICAN FLAG
Up with our banner bright,
Sprinkled ivith starry light,
Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore,
IVhile throu'^h the sounding sky
Loud rings the Nation s cry, —
Union and Liberty! one efermore!
Oliver Wendell Holmes
THE AMERICAN FLAG
NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT — SUPPLEMENTAL VOLUME
COMPILED AND EDITED BY
HARLAN HOYT HORNER
STATE OF NEW YORK
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
ALBANY
1910
The Liberty Bell
^^^^-l -^ ^«olf. ace
A
THE CALL OF THE FLAG
THE strong colors and the glorious beauty of the
American flag express well the overwhelming fact of
modern history — the evolution of the American Re-
public. Wherever it may be, the flag is both attractive and
assertive. In the home the colors do not clash with other
colors. If they do not blend, neither do they repel. In the
remotest distance the flag may be seen above every other
object and distinguished from every other flag. The red and
white stripes standing for the original states, and the silvery
stars representing the Union, radiate and scintillate as far as
the eye can reach. Far or near, the American flag is true
and sure, brilliant and radiant, cordial and independent.
It is a modern flag. There are no myths or legends, no
ruins or heraldry, no armour or castles about it. It expresses
the political independence of a plain people, the advance of a
new nation, the self-conscious power, the confident aspirations,
and the universal good will of popular government.
What has been said of the flag has largely been inspired
by war. Souls must be aflame to give out oratory and poetry.
The flag has many times been at the battle front. The sight
of it has inspired many a boy to do and die for his country.
It was in the crucial campaign of the Revolution, that for the
possession of New York, beginning at Fort Schuyler, continu-
ing at Oriskany, and ending with the surrender of Burgoyne's
entire army at Saratoga, that the flag was first given to the
air in the face of an enemy. In this state it began to gather
the deep love of a free people. That love has since grown
deeper and yet deeper through the hail and flame, the heroisms
and deaths, of an hundred battles. It is sad that war had to
be, but for us there was no other way. Independence of
Britain could not come by arbitration. The Union could not
be saved by negotiation. Fighting is bad business, but there
are times when it is better than submission. The strength
and courage of a people are the guardians of their peace,
of their freedom, and of their progress. The perils, the
sufferings, and the heroisms of the country have made
the literature of the flag.
WCW YORK PUBLIC LIBWARt
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
But the flag of the American Union, now as never before,
tells of toleration and of good will, of education and of
industry. It has welcomed millions from all nations of the
world and has held out the equal chance to all who came
under its folds. Every new star added to its blue field has
told of a new state, and every new state tells of more farms
cleared, more factories opened, more churches and schools set
in motion, and more laws and courts to regulate them all
and to assure the equal rights of every one.
Out of the equal chance of freemen, out of the farms and
forests and mines, out of the majestic rivers and charming
valleys and lofty mountains, and out of the bracing air that is
filled with sunshine, mighty public works and marvelous insti-
tutions of culture have sprung. Railways and roadways,
tunnels and aqueducts, newspapers and magazines, theaters
and art galleries, cathedrals and universities, have grown.
They are the products and the promoters of civilization and
they give strength and stateliness to the flag.
The American flag has looked down upon the writing of
more constitutions and the making of more laws than any
other flag in history. Some of this law-making has been
crude, and perhaps some of it has been mistaken, but it has
been both the necessary accompaniment and the stimulating
cause of our wonderful national evolution.
As man does so is he. All of these industrial, educational,
religious, and political doings have produced a new nation of
keen, alert, sinewy, and right-minded people who have power
and know it. They have the traits of a young nation. But
they are lacking neither in introspection, nor in imagination,
nor in humor. More knowledge of other peoples than their
fathers had and increasing responsibilities are sobering and
steadying them. In their dealings with other peoples they
intend to be just, frank, magnanimous. Their political phi-
losophy is only the logical outworking of the Golden Rule.
They have undoubting faith in democracy and would exem-
plify it in ways to commend and extend it.
The American flag expresses a glorious history, but it does
not hark back to it overmuch. It looks forward more than
backward. It calls upon us to do for this generation and to
regard all the generations that will follow after. It knows
that some time there will be five hundred or a thousand mil-
lions of people in the United States instead of one hundred
millions. It expects still greater public works and many more
public conveniences. It sees better than any one of us does
how hard it will be for such a self-governing people to hold
what belongs to them in common, and to manage their great
enterprises without frauds and for the good of all.
The people of the United States are not only the pro-
prietors of great natural possessions; they are inheritors of
the natural rights of man, fought for by their ancestors in the
mother country, granted in the great charters of English
liberty, and established in the English common law. They
have added to this what seemed worth taking from other
systems of jurisprudence and from the manifold experiences of
other lands; they have proved their capacity to administer their
inheritance, and to their natural and political estates they
have added the experiences of their own successful and notable
national career. The flag not only adjures us to guard what we
have in property and in law, but to train the children so that
the men and women of the future may administer their inherit-
ance better than we have ours or than our fathers did theirs.
The flao; does more than emblazon a momentous and
glorious history; it declares the purposes and heralds the
ideals of the Republic; it admonishes us to uphold the inherent
rights of all men; it tells us to stand for international justice
and conciliation; and it encourages us to accept the conse-
quences without fear. It hails us to individual duties and the
cooperation which alone can maintain equality of rights and
fulness of opportunity in America. It insists that we set a
compelling example which will enlarge both security and free-
dom, both peace and prosperity, in all parts of the world.
A flag of glowing splendor calls to a nation of infinite
possibilities. It calls upon the American people to conserve
property, health, and morals; to preach the gospel of work
and protect the accumulations of thrift; to open every kind of
school to all manner of people; and to spare neither alertness
nor force in keeping clean the springs of political action and
in punishing venality in public life. That is the call of the
radiant flag of the Union to the self-governing nation of the
western world which is being compounded out of all the
nations and is creating a new manner of civilization out of all
the civilizations of the earth.
Andrew S. Draper,
Commissioner of Education.
The Flag of Spain in 1492
The Personal Banner of Columbus
10
gfY OF NEW YORK
Courtesy of The Burrows Brothers Company, Publishers,
Cleveland. Ohio
From Avery's History of the United States
ami Its People
The Landing of Columbus
THE MAKING OF THE FLAG
THE first flags, according to authentic record, raised
by white men in America were those which Christopher
Columbus brought to the island of San Salvador,
October 12, 1492. His son thus chronicles the ceremony of
the landing: "Columbus, dressed in scarlet, first stepped on
shore from the little boat which bore him from his vessels,
bearing the royal standards of Spain, emblazoned with the
arms of Castile and Leon, in his own hand, followed by the
Pinzons, in their own boats, each bearing the banner of the
expedition, which was a white flag, with a green cross, having
on each side the letters F and Y, surmounted by golden crowns."
The last named was the personal flag of the great sailor, the
gift of Queen Isabella to him, the letter F standing for Ferdi-
nand and Y for Ysabel. The first named, composed of four
sections, two with yellow castles upon red and two with red
lions upon white ground, was the flag of Spain in the time of
Columbus and during most of the succeeding years of dis-
covery and conquest. Illustrations of these flags are shown
on the opposite page.
The flag of England was first unfurled in North America
by John Cabot, a Venetian, who landed, probably, on the
coast of Newfoundland in 1497, w^ith letters patent from
Henry VII of England, "to set up the royal banners and
ensigns in the countries, places or mainland newly found by
him," and "to conquer, occupy and possess the same." Under
date of London, August 23, 1497, Lorenzo Pasqualigo writes
to his brothers in Venice that "Cabot planted in his new-
II
found land a large cross, with a flag of England and another
of St Mark, by reason of his being a Venetian, so that our
banner has floated very far afield." The Venetian ensign was
of scarlet with a broad band of blue near the edge, perhaps
typifying the sea, from which rose in gold the winged lion of
St Mark, having in his right paw a cross. The flag of Eng-
land used by Cabot and by other English navigators who
followed him was probably the cross of St George, which is a
white flag with a rectangular red cross extending its entire length
and hight. In 1603 under James I, formerly James VI of
Scotland, England and Scotland were united, and St George's
cross was later joined with the cross of St Andrew of Scotland
to form what was called the King's Colors. The cross of St
Andrew is a blue flag with a diagonal white cross extending
from corner to corner. The combination of the banners of
England and Scotland formed, therefore, a blue flag wath a
rectangular red cross and a diagonal white cross, the red
showing entirely and the white being interrupted by it. Eng-
land and Scotland retained their individual flags for many
purposes, and it is probable that the Mayflower on that mem-
orable journey in 1620 bore the cross of St George at her
masthead, for she was an English ship.
After King Charles I was beheaded in 1649, ^'"^^ partner-
ship between England and Scotland was dissolved, and the
national standard of England became again St George's cross.
In 1660, when Charles II ascended the throne, the King's
Colors again came into use. In 1707, when the complete
union of the kingdom of Great Britain, including England,
Scotland and Wales was established. Great Britain adopted
for herself and her colonies a red ensign with the symbol of
the union of England and Scotland in the canton. This
"meteor flag of England," as it was sometimes called, con-
tinued to be the national standard until 1801, when the cross
of St Patrick, a red diagonal
saltire on a w^hite ground, was
united with the other crosses
to mark the addition of Ire-
land to the United Kingdom.
This combination has formed
the union in the flag of the
kingdom of Great Britain
Meteor Flag of England and Ireland down to the
12
St George's Cross St Andrew's Cross
The King's Colors
Sx Patrick's Cross
The British Union Jack
13
present day. The complete development of the British flag
is shown on the preceding page, the crosses of St George
and St Andrew at the top with their combination in the
King's Colors immediately beneath, followed by the cross
of St Patrick and the present Union Jack of England. We
are not concerned directly with the present British flag, how-
ever, because our American flag was established earlier.
Mention should be made of the flags of other nations that
early came to our shores. Jacques Carrier was, perhaps, the
first to bring the colors of France to the New World. Under
royal commission he landed on May lo, 1534 at Cape Bona-
vista, Newfoundland, and set up a cross at Gaspe a few weeks
later. Upon a second voyage a year later he set up a cross
and the arms of France near the site of the present city of
Quebec. The French flag was probably blue at that time with
three golden fleur-de-lis. Later the Huguenot party in France
adopted the white flag. Over the forts and trading posts and
in battle in the vast region of New France, stretching south-
west from the St Lawrence to the Mississippi, it is probable
that the Bourbon flag floated during the greater portion of the
French occupancy.
Henry Hudson brought the Half Moon into New York
harbor in 1609 flying the flag of the Dutch East India Com-
pany, which was that of the Dutch Republic — three equal
horizontal stripes, orange, white and blue — with the letters
V. O. C. A. (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, Amsterdam)
in the center of the white stripe. In 1621, when the Dutch
West India Company came into control, the letters G. W. C.
(Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie) took the place of
the letters V. O. C. A. With the change of the orange to a
red stripe between 1630 and 1650, the Dutch flag was in use
until 1664, when the English flag was raised, which remained,
save for the temporary Dutch resumption, 1673-74, until the
Stars and Stripes was acknowledged.
In 1638 a party of Swedish and Finnish colonists founded
a settlement on the bank of the Delaware
river, called New Sweden, under the Swed-
ish national flag, a yellow cross on a blue
ground. This settlement flourished until
1655, when it was overpowered by the
„, . u T^ u Dutch.
Hag of the Dutch . . ...
West India Company The Settlements in the thirteen original
14
New England Colors,
1686
colonies were largely English, and the ceremonial flags
of the English colonies very naturally took the form of
the English national standard in its successive periods. The
cross of St George was in use in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony as early as 1634. In 1643 ^^^ colonies of Plymouth,
Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut and New
.Haven formed an alliance under the name
of the United Colonies of New England
and in 1686 adopted as a common flag
the cross of St George with a gilt crown
emblazoned on the center of the cross with
the monogram of King James II under-
neath. As early as 1700, however, the
colonies began to depart from authorized
English standards and to adopt flags show-
ing a degree of independence and distinguishing their ships
from those of England and from those of their neighbors.
The pine tree flag of New England was a conspicuous one
and came into use as early as 1704. In one form it was a
red flag with the cross of St George in the canton with a
green pine tree in the first quarter. It is thought that this
flag may have been displayed at Bunker Hill. Another form
of the pine tree flag was that having a white field with the
motto "An Appeal to Heaven" above the pine tree. A very
interesting banner,
now in the possession
of the Public Library
of Bedford, Massa-
chusetts, is said to be
the oldest American
flag in existence. It
was carried by the
minutemen of Bed-
ford at the battle of
Concord. The ground
is maroon, emblazoned
with an outstretched
arm, the color of
silver, in the hand of
which is an uplifted
Courtesy of The Burrows Brothers Company, Publishers, 1 npl ' 1
.„ cweiand, Ohio sword. 1 hrcc circular
From Avery s History of the United Stntes and Its People
v^ ( .u -R A( i Af . figures, also in silver,
rlag oi the liediord Minutemen o ' '
15
are said to represent cannon balls. Upon a gold scroll are the
words "Vince aut Morire," meaning "Conquer or Die."
The rattlesnake emblem was another favorite symbol in
the colonies. It rivaled the pine tree in popularity and was
shown in several designs. One form, that adopted by South
Carolina, was a yellow flag with a rattlesnake in the middle
about to strike, with the words "Don't Tread on Me" under-
neath. Connecticut troops bore banners of solid color, a
different color for each regiment, having on one side the
motto "Qui Transtulit Sustinet" and on the other "An Appeal
to Heaven." New York's flag was a white field with a black
beaver in the center. Rhode Island's flag was white with a
blue anchor with the word "Hope" above it, and a blue canton
with thirteen white stars. Other flags bore the words "Liberty
and Union," and "Liberty or Death." The earliest flag dis-
played in the South was raised at Charleston, South Carolina,
in the fall of 1775. It was a blue flag with a white crescent
in the upper corner. Later, the word "Liberty" in white
letters was added at the bottom of the flag. Some of these
colonial flags are reproduced on the opposite page.
These various forerunners of our national flag are insep-
arably associated with its history, and yet they give us little
or no clue to the origin of the Stars and Stripes. Our flag
was an evolution. The design of stars and stripes was not
original with us. As early as 1704
the ships of the English East India
Company bore flags with thirteen red
and white stripes with the cross of
St George in the canton. Still a cen-
tury earlier, the national flag of the
Netherlands consisted of three equal
horizontal stripes. It is frequently
suggested, though without tangible
evidence, that the stars and stripes
in Washington's coat of arms may
have determined the original design of
our flag. The celebrated standard
of the Philadelphia Troop of Light
Horse, the first known instance of the
American use of stripes, was made
in 1775. This flag is shown on page
Its stripes may have in turn
^ 1^ ^
Courtesy of The Burrows Brothers Company
Ptiljlishers, Cleveland. Ohio
From Avery's History of the United States
and Its People
Washington's Coat of Arnas
:>:>'
16
AN APPEALTO HEAVEN
LIBERTY
Colonial Flags
17
suggested the flag which Washington raised at Cambridge on
January 2,-1776. This was the first distinctive American flag
indicating a union of the colonies. It consisted of thirteen
alternate red and white stripes with the combined crosses of
St George and St Andrew in the canton. It was a peculiar
flag, the thirteen stripes standing for the union of the col-
onies and their revolt against the mother country, and the
subjoined crosses representing the allegiance to her which was
yet partially acknowledged. It was variously designated as the
Union Flag, the Grand Union Flag and the Great Union
Flag, and is now frequently referred to as the Cambridge
Flag. A draiwing of this flag is shown at the top of the oppo-
site page./ It marked the real beginning of our national exist-
ence and continued to be the flag of the Revolution until
the Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes.
*— We shall never know the whole story of the origin of our
national flag. The oft-repeated claim that in June 1776
Betsy Ross not only planned but made the first flag which
was adopted a year later by Congress, is pleasant tradition, if
not accurate history. The story runs that at that time a com-
mittee of Congress, whether officially or self designated does
not appear, consisting of George Washington, Robert Morris
and Colonel George Ross, the latter, an uncle of John Ross,
the husband of Betsy, she then being a young widow, called
upon her at her upholstery shop on Arch street, Philadelphia,
and asked if she could make a flag. She said she could try.
Whereupon they produced a design roughly drawn of thirteen
stripes and thirteen stars, the latter being six-pointed. She
advised that the stars should be five-pointed, showing that a
five-pointed star could be made with a single clip of the scissors.
They agreed that this would be better, and General Washing-
ton changed the design upon the spot and the committee left.
Shortly afterward, the sketch thus made was copied and
colored by a local artist and was sent to her, from which she
made the sample flag that was approved by the committee.
It is added that General Washington thought that the stars
should be placed in a circle, thus signifying the equality of
the states, none being the superior of another. The account
rests almost entirely upon Mrs Ross's own statements made
to members of her family and repeated by her descendants, a
number of whom have made affidavits to the family under-
standing of her communications. The story has been assailed
18
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The Cambridge Flag
The First Stars and Stripes
19
chiefly upon the grounds that it is unsupported contempo-
raneously, that the flag was not immediately adopted and had
no general use prior to June 14, 1777. Nevertheless, it is a
pretty and fascinating story as it stands and has immense
vogue. The Betsy Ross house, 239 Arch street, has been
purchased and is cared for by the American Flag House and
Betsy Ross Memorial Association, as the memorial to the
reputed maker of the flag.
The authentic history of our flag begins on June 14, 1777,
when in pursuance of the report of a committee, the names of
the members of which are unrecorded, but which John Adams
has the credit of proposing, the American Congress adopted
the following resolution :
Resolved, That the flag ot the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes,
alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field,
representing a new constellation.
Whatever may have been the actual origin of this flag, the
sentiment which it has conveyed for 133 years w^as appro-
priately expressed by Washington in these words: "We take
the star from Heaven, the red from our mother country,
separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have
separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to
posterity representing liberty."
There was considerable delay in the public announcement
of the adoption of the flag, and the design was not officially
promulgated by Congress until September 3, 1777. This first
flag showed the arrangement of the stars in a circle (see bot-
tom of page 19), but the arrangement was afterward changed
to three horizontal lines of four, five and four stars. There
are other claimants for the honor of first displaying the flag,
but the evidence is quite conclusive that the event occurred in
New York. The occasion was at Fort Stanwix, built in 1758
and renamed Fort Schuyler in 1777, the site of the present city
of Rome, New York. In anticipation of the descent of the
British forces from the north, a garrison of some 500 or 600
men had been placed in Fort Stanwix, under command of
Colonel Peter Gansevoort, Jr, with Lieutenant-colonel Marinus
Willett second in command. On the evening of the 2d of August
the garrison was reinforced by about 200 men of the Ninth
Massachusetts Regiment, led by Lieutenant-colonel Mellon,
bringing the news of the recently enacted flag statute, and the
making of the flag was determined upon. It was an improvised
20
affair and the fort was ransacked for material of which it might
be fashioned. It was made, according to the most trustworthy
account, from a soldier's white shirt, a woman's red petticoat and
a piece of blue cloth from the cloak of Captain Abraham Swart-
wout, and raised on August 3, 1777 on the northeast bastion, the
one nearest the camp of St Leger who had invested the fort.
The drummer beat the assembly and the adjutant read the
Congressional resolution ordaining the flag of the Republic, and
up it went; there it swung, free and defiant, until the end of
i^^'T 1 ^ v-^n^-i
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■y
Abraham Swartwout's Letter to Peter Gansevoort
21
the siege on the 22d of August. This account is confirmed by-
Captain Swartwout's letter asking for cloth to replace that
which was taken to make the flag. This letter is in the pos-
session of Mrs Catherine Gansevoort Lansing of Albany, New
York, a granddaughter of Colonel Gansevoort, and is repro-
duced through her courtesy on the preceding page.
The claim has been made that the Stars and Stripes was first
raised in battle at Cooch's Bridge, near Wilmington, Delaware,
on the 3d of September 1777. The claim is based upon the
mere presumption that the American forces had a flag at Cooch's
Bridge, and local Delaware historians assert that the Fort
Stanwix flag was improvised and that the engagement was
simply a skirmish or sally. The flag was made in a hurry, but
it was regular and complete, and the three weeks' siege at Fort
Stanwix was by no means a mere skirmish. The honor clearly
belongs to New York.
The flag with thirteen stars and thirteen stripes remained
the national emblem until May i, 1795. Vermont had entered
the Union March 4, 1791, and Kentucky, June i, 1792, and
a change was thus necessitated in the flag. Not foreseeing the
growth of the flag in the addition of both a star and a stripe
for each new state. Congress passed the following act which
was approved by President Washington on January 13, 1794:
Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the first day of May, one thousand
seven hundred and ninety-five, the flag of the United States be fifteen stripes,
alternate red and white; and that the union be fifteen stars, white in a blue field.
In this flag the stars were arranged in three parallel rows
of five each, as shown at the top of the opposite page, with the
blue field resting on the fifth red stripe. This was the national
flag for twenty-three years. It was in use during the War of
1 8 12, and in September 18 14, waving over Fort McHenry, it
inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner.
With the admission of new states it was very soon seen, how-
ever, that the flag of fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, would not
truly represent the Union, and that it would not be practicable
to continue adding a stripe for each new state. Eleven months
after the flag of 1795 was adopted, on June i, 1796, Tennessee
was admitted into the Union ; and Ohio was admitted on Feb-
ruary 19, 1803, Louisiana on April 30, 18 12, Indiana on
December 11, 1816, and Mississippi on December 10, 1817.
On December 9, 1816 Hon. Peter H. Wendover, a member of
Congress from New York city, off^ered a resolution "that a
22
The Flag of Fifteen Stars and Fifteen Stripes
The Flag of Twenty Stars and Thirteen Stripes
23
committee be appointed to inquire into the expediency of alter-
ing the flag of the United States." As a result of this resolution
an act was passed by Congress and on April 4, 18 18 approved
by President Monroe, which fixed finally the general form of
our flag. The act is as follows :
An Act to Establish the Flag of the United States.
Sec. I. Be it enacted, etc.. That from and after the fourth day of July
next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red
and white; that the union have twenty stars, white in a blue field.
Sec. 2. Be it further enacted. That on the admission of every new state
into the Union, one star be added to the union ot the flag; and that such addition
shall take eff"ect on the fourth of July next succeeding such admission.
There was considerable debate in the House upon the bill,
and to Mr Wendover belongs the credit of pressing it to final
passage. The suggestion for the form of the flag, however,
namely, that the original thirteen stripes should be restored
and that a star should be added for each new state, came
from Captain Samuel C. Reid of the United States navy. Leg-
islation has never provided the exact arrangement the stars
should take in the canton of the flag. Following the last
mentioned enactment of Congress, the first flag with thirteen
stripes and twenty stars was hoisted on the flagstaff" of the
House of Representatives on April 13, 18 18. Upon the sug-
gestion of Captain Reid the stars were arranged to form one
great star in the center of the union, as shown at the bottom of
the preceding page. This design did not gain favor and the
stars were soon thereafter arranged in rows. There was much
confusion for many years and a great many diff"erent arrange-
ments of the stars were displayed. Since the flag with twenty
stars was established, a new star has been added on the fourth
of July following the admission into the Union of each of the
following- states :
Illinois, December 3, 18 18. Kansas, January 29, 1861.
Alabama, December 14, i8ig. West Virginia, June 19, 1863.
Maine, March 15, 1820. Nevada, October 31, 1864.
Missouri, August 10, 1821. Nebraska, March I, 1867.
Arkansas, June 15, 1836. Colorado, August i, 1876.
Michigan, January 26, 1837. North Dakota, November 2, 1889.
Florida, March 3, 1845. South Dakota, November 2, 1889.
Texas, December 29, 1845. Montana, November 8, 1889.
Iowa, December 28, 1846. Washington, November li, 1889.
Wisconsin, May 29, 1848. Idaho, July 3, 1890.
California, September 9, 1850. Wyoming, July 11, 1890.
Minnesota, May 11, 1858. Utah, January 4, 1896.
Oregon, February 14, 1859. Oklahoma, November 16, 1907.
24
The early confusion about the arrangement of the stars
has largely disappeared. In the absence of direct legislation,
an agreement has been arrived at between the War and Navy
Departments on the subject. Since July 4, 1908, following
the admission of Oklahoma in 1907, the arrangement of the
stars in the flags of the army and ensigns of the navy has
been in six horizontal rows, the first, third, fourth and sixth
rows having eight stars, and the second and fiith rows having
seven. The present grouping of the stars is shown in the flag
on the frontispiece.
Harlan Hoyt Horner
"IN GOD WE TRUST"
From ancient lands across the sea
Here came our fathers to be free;
They felled the forest, plowed the field
And won the wealth the waters yield;
In mine and shop they delved and wrought,
And bravely for their freedom fought;
They feared the Lord, naught else they feared,
As they a mighty nation reared.
From Canada to Mexico
One land, one law, one flag we know;
And far beyond the western seas
Old Glory floats in pledge of peace;
While North and South and East and West,
Above our best deserving blest.
In gratitude, as still we must.
We raise the hymn, In God We Trust.
Joseph B. Gilder
Copyright, igog, hy the author
NEW YORK AND THE FLAG
HIGHLY as the citizens of New York value her posi-
tion, possessions, history and fame, they acknowledge
superior allegiance to the Union and its flag; but
they take pride, justly, in the events of national importance
that have occurred on her soil, in her sons who have distin-
guished themselves in national afi^airs, and in the faithful and
consistent service she has rendered the Republic.
New York adopted a constitution April 20, and George
Clinton became the first governor of the State, July 9, 1777.
At Fort Stanwix, August 3, the Stars and Stripes was first
raised in the face of the enemy; three days afterward the
bloody battle of Oriskany was fought; and, on October 17,
Burgoyne surrendered to the flag at Saratoga at the culmina-
tion of the battle which was the decisive conflict of the Revo-
lution. The Legislature of New York accepted, February 6,
1778, the Articles of Confederation adopted by Congress.
"Mad" Anthony Wayne accomplished one of the most brilliant
exploits of the war at Stony Point, July 16, 1779, and, later in
the same year, General John Sullivan swept with the flag
through the country of the Iroquois, burning their villages,
slaying their warriors, and efi^ectually ending their alliance with
the British crown. It was on the Hudson in September 1780
that, through the treason of Arnold, the flag would have trailed
in the dust and American freedom, perhaps, have been lost,
save for the New York men who were the captors of Andre.
In October 1781 Colonel Marinus Willett gained a victory over
the tories and red men at Johnstown. When the enemy was
broken and paralyzed in New York the operations of the war
were mainly confined to the South ; but it was reserved for New
York, on the 25th of November 1783, to witness the evacuation
of the land by British troops and the Stars and Stripes run up
in the city as the royal ensign was hauled down. The federal
Constitution was ratified at Poughkeepsie, July 26, 1788; New
York became in 1784 the seat of the federal government and so
remained until 1790; and in the city on the 30th of April 1789,
George Washington from the balcony of Federal Hall took the
oath of office under the flag as President of the United States.
27
In the War of 1812, owing largely to her Canadian bound-
ary, New York conspicuously encountered the hazards and
helped in the triumphs of the flag. Her northern border was
fighting ground, on which her militia bore the brunt of battle.
Sacketts Harbor, Lundy's Lane and Plattsburg testified to the
valor of her yeomen and her troops; McDonough's destruction
of the British fleet made the waters of Champlain forever
glorious. Large amounts were raised for coast defense and
the fitting out of privateers which swarmed the Atlantic; and
the state endorsed United States treasury notes, expended in
recruiting and manufacturing arms.
In the Civil War, New York, then far in advance of any
other commonwealth in men and means, was thus enabled
also to be the most prominent and eff'ective in the preserva-
tion of the Union and the supremacy of the Stars and Stripes.
She sent into the field 448,850 men for periods ranging from
three months to three years and was credited with 18,197 who
paid commutation, or a total of 467,047, over one-sixth of the
Union army. Many of her volunteer oflRcers attained dis-
tinction and her regiments were among the best in the service.
She expended in bounties $86,629,228 — an unparalleled munifi-
cence — as proof of her patriotism.
The leading place of New York in the national government
is well shown in the names of her sons who have had distin-
guished service therein. New York has given to the Union
some of its most illustrious servants; and, especially should be
named Alexander Hamilton, the greatest American construc-
tive statesman; Philip Schuyler, among the greatest of Ameri-
can soldiers; John Jay, jurist and statesman; and William H.
Seward, foremost among diplomatists. She has had as presi-
dents, Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore, Chester A. Arthur,
Grover Cleveland and Theodore Roosevelt. The following
have been vice-presidents : Aaron Burr, George Clinton,
Daniel D. Tompkins, Martin Van Buren, Millard Fillmore,
William A. Wheeler, Chester A. Arthur, Levi P. Morton,
Theodore Roosevelt and James S. Sherman. She has been
represented in the Cabinet by Martin Van Buren, William L.
Marcy, William H. Seward, Hamilton Fish, William M. Evarts,
Elihu Root and Robert Bacon as secretaries of state; by
Alexander Hamilton, John C. Spencer, John A. Dix, Charles
J. Folger, Daniel Manning, Charles S. Fairchild and George
B. Cortelyou as secretaries of the treasury; by John Armstrong,
28
John Jay
Philip Schuyler
, . .
^^
^^^^B *^ ^^HH
IP"'' ' vpi^^^^^^Bi ^7 '^-^ '
^^^^^^H ^tiii.»- — ff^^HPHIH
^^^^ 'iS^^
^^^m '"SB
1 ^
l^^m . V
'^'f0'lr ^
^w
^H
^^^^F '^' ~^«^^^l
f
Alexander Hamilton
William H. Seward
29
Peter B. Porter, Benjamin F. Butler, John C. Spencer, William
L. Marcy, John M. Schofield, Daniel S. Lamont and Elihu
Root as secretaries of war; by Smith Thompson, James K.
Paulding, William C. Whitney and Benjamin F. Tracy as
secretaries of the navy; by Benjamin F. Butler, William M.
Evarts, Edwards Pierrepont and George W. Wickersham as
attorneys-general; by Francis Granger, Nathan K. Hall,
Thomas L. James, Wilson S. Bissell and George B. Cortelyou
as postmasters-general; by Cornelius N. Bliss as secretary of
the interior; and by George B. Cortelyou as secretary of com-
merce and labor.
John Jay (chief-justice), Brockholst Livingston, Smith
Thompson, Samuel Nelson, Ward Hunt, Samuel Blatchford
and Rufus W. Peckham have been among the justices of the
Supreme Court of the United States. In important diplomatic
positions have been John M. Francis, Frederick D. Grant and
Charles S. Francis as ministers to Austria; Gouverneur Morris,
Robert R. Livingston, John Armstrong, John Bigelow, John
A. Dix, Levi P. Morton, Whitelaw Reid, Horace Porter and
Robert Bacon as ministers or ambassadors to France; Daniel
D. Barnard, George Bancroft, |. C. B. Davis, Andrew D.
White and David J. Hill as ministers or ambassadors to Ger-
many; John Jay, Rufus King, George Bancroft, Edwards
Pierrepont, Joseph H. Choate and Whitelaw Reid as ministers or
ambassadors to Great Britain; Churchill C. Cambreling, Allen
T. Rice and Andrew D. White as ministers to Russia ; and Wash-
ington Irving, Daniel E. Sickles, Perry Belmont and Stewart L.
Woodford as ministers to Spain. Throughout, New York
has been most ably represented in both houses of Congress.
In 1789, when the Constitution of the United States was
adopted. New York was the fifth state in population and
resources, being out-classed by Virginia, Pennsylvania, North
Carolina and Massachusetts. Thence she forged rapidly to
the front, attaining in 1820 first rank in population, wealth,
manufactures, commerce and education. She was rightfully
styled the Empire State, and has since so remained, advancing
by great leaps and bounds. A few statistics will show her
primacy. Her population in 1905 was 8,067,308. Her popu-
lation in her large cities, New York, Buffalo, Rochester, Syra-
cuse and Albany, is now nearly 6,000,000. New York is the
second city in population in the world and will soon be the
first in that regard, London exceeding her by only 522,237, and
30
Paris, the third, having over 2,000,000 less number of inhabit-
ants. The world's financial center is also moving from Lon-
don to New York. The imports at the port of New York
were in 1909 valued at ^779,308,944 and the exports at ^607,-
239,481. New York entered 12,528,723 and exported 11,-
866,415 tons of goods, exceeding London by millions in both
respects. The state paid ^28,637,349.37 of internal revenue
taxes to the general government, being over one-eighth of the
whole amount received. The total amount expended in the
state for education (1908-9) was ^76,696,217.48. Of this
amount $5,863,281.36 was paid by the state, $50,496,070.52
was raised by tax or otherwise locally, and $20,336,865.60 was
contributed by individuals or institutions. The amount of
deposits in the savings banks of the state was (1909) $1,405,-
799, 067.62, with an average of $509.28 for each depositor, the
amount nearest to this being that of Massachusetts — $728,-
224,417.52. The total assessed valuation of real and personal
property in the state, estimated at 86§ per cent of its real
value, was $9,666,118,689. These figures are bewildering, but
they are the most practical expression of the supremacy of New
York in the Union, and the immense stake she has in its integ-
rity and welfare and of her ability to protect and exalt the flag.
She will be true to it in the coming years, as she has been from
the hour when it was raised at Fort Stanwix.
Courtesy of Tlie Burrows Brothers Coiupany,
Publishers, Cleveland, Ohio
From Avery's History of the United
States ami its People
Colonel Peter Gansevoort's Third New York Regiment Flag
(Made in 1778 or 1779 and carried at the siege of Yorktown)
31
(Obverse)
(Reverse)
The Seal of the United States
32
THE DOMINION OF THE FLAG
THE Stars and Stripes has always been a conquer-
ing emblem. It waves today over a magnificent
domain, 3,686,780 square miles, including insular
dependencies, and floats to the winds of every zone north
of the tropic of Capricorn. The following table shows the
various divisions of this domain:
Name Area, Square Miles
Continental United States, . 2,970,230 (land surface only)
■ Alaska, 590,884 (land and water)
Hawaii, 6,449
Philippine Islands, .... 115,026
Porto Rico, 3,435
Guam, 201
Tutuila (Samoa), 81
Panama Canal Zone 1904, . 474
It is a domain touching approximately the i8th degree
south and the Jid north latitude, and the 67th degree west
and the iizd east longitude, embracing every variety of soil,
scenery and production, with lofty mountain ranges, indented
sea-coasts, long and serviceable rivers, and multitudinous
mineral deposits.
This domain has been acquired by the release of the
colonies from the yoke of Great Britain, with the consequent
cessions from the mother country and from the states; by
war; by purchase; and by voluntary annexation. When the
United States became a nation, it included the original thirteen
states, with the additional area surrendered by Great Britain,
the whole being bounded on the west by the Mississippi river,
on the south by the 31st parallel of latitude — the north line of
Florida — on the east by the Atlantic ocean, and on the north
by the British dominions. Within this area was the tract
known as the Northwest Territory, in which several states —
New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut and
Virginia — held claims and which, by the memorable ordinance
of 1787, was forever dedicated to freedom. The states soon
relinquished their rights therein to the general government and
from it have been carved Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan,
Wisconsin, the eastern part (a small section) of Minnesota,
33
and the northwest corner of Pennsylvania. In the territory
south of the Ohio river, Kentucky was taken from Virginia.
To the remainder thereof, North CaroHna, South Carohna
and Georgia preferred claims, but also adjusted them with
the general government and therein Tennessee, Alabama and
Mississippi were erected. In 1803 Louisiana, now compris-
ing Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas (except
as derived from Texas), Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota (west of
the Mississippi), North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, a
portion of Colorado and nearly all of Wyoming — nearly 1,000,-
000 square miles — was purchased from France. In 18 19
Florida was bought from Spain for ^^5,000,000 which included
full extinction of the claims against her of certain American
citizens. Texas, an independent state, was annexed in 184^5,
a portion of her area being subsequently sold to the United
States and now included in Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico.
By the cession from Mexico in 1848, as a result of the war with
that country, a vast region, since famous for and enormously
profitable in its yield of mineral treasures and now resolved
into California, Nevada, Utah, a large portion of Colorado,
the lower part of Arizona, and a considerable part of New
Mexico, was obtained. In 1853 the Gadsden purchase of the
lower portions of Arizona and New Mexico was made from
Mexico. In 1846 Oregon, including the present states of
Oregon, Washington and Idaho, whose northern boundary,
lonor in dispute with Great Britain but then adjusted, became
incontestably an American possession. There were thirteen
original states; thirty-three have since been admitted and the
two territories. New Mexico and Arizona, soon will be.
Seven times has the Stars and Stripes flown triumphant in
\var — six times against a foreign and once against a domestic foe.
Each conflict has upheld the national honor and twice it has
enlarged the national domain. In chronological order (omit-
ting conflicts with Indian tribes) wars have occurred as follows:
I. With Great Britain — 1775-83 — by which independence
was won and the Republic assured.
II. With France — 1 798-1 800 — by which French insults and
outrages were avenged. War was not formally
declared, but conflicts occurred on the ocean.
III. With Tripoli — 1801-5 — by which the capture of
American ships, the sale of their crews as slaves and
payments for their release, were amply punished.
34
IV. With Great Britain — 1812-15 — because of British claims
to search American ships and impress seamen there-
from. The war lasted three years, and, although
by it the United States acquired no territory and
American grievances were not in terms settled by
the treaty, there was no further disposition by Great
Britain to affront the American flap;.
V. With Mexico — 1846-48 — by which in return for
^15,000,000 and the assumption by the United
States of the claims of American citizens against
Mexico, that country ceded to it the territory
already described.
VI. With the Confederate States — 1861-65. The differences
between the Northern and Southern states were
settled and the Stars and Stripes waved again over
a united people.
VII.
Colors of Ninth U. S. Infantry
(In camp at Tampa, Fla. during Spanish War)
With Spain — 1898 — by which Spain was expelled
from the western world and large accessions were
made to American territory — the Philippine Islands,
Porto Rico, etc.
35
By means other than war the United States acquired
Louisiana from France in 1803, Florida from Spain in 18 19,
and Alaska from Russia in 1867, by purchase; Hawaii by its
own appHcation in 1898 ; Tutuila, a Samoan island, by arrange-
ment with Great Britain and Germany in 1899; and some
small outlying Philippine islands in 1901. Sufficient has been
said concerning Louisiana and Florida. In 1867 Alaska
with its outlying islands was purchased from Russia for $j,20Ci,-
000, mainly through the efforts of William H. Seward, secre-
tary of state. His estimate of the value, politically and com-
mercially, of a region commonly assumed to consist only of
treacherous bogs, glacial wastes and frozen streams, was
regarded as a wild and fantastic dream. But Secretary Seward
was enthusiastic in its behalf, pressed the measure and esteemed
its adoption the crowning laurel of his long and distinguished
public career. It may fairly be said that his expectations have
been far more than realized and that the buying of Alaska has
turned out to be one of the best bargains that one country
ever made with another. Sweeping north far within the Arctic
circle, its area is equal to that of one-fifth of all the states and
organized territories of the Union, and, although there are
extensive tracts uninhabitable, desolate and sterile, and dark-
ness settles as a pall upon a portion of it through half the year,
it is very rich in forests, fisheries, fur-bearing animals, and in
precious metals is a real El Dorado. For the past decade, a
copious stream of gold has issued from Alaska, the production
for 1908 alone being $19,858,800. Even the climate of much
of the country, modified as it is by the tepid current of the Kuro-
Siwo (the Japanese Gulf Stream) is an agreeable one. The
isothermal line of Sitka — 57 degrees north latitude — corre-
sponds with that of Philadelphia — 40 degrees.
Negotiations for the annexation of Hawaii (the Sandwich
islands), intimate relations with which had been established by
American missionaries, merchants and residents, began as
early as 1854, but were ended by the sudden death of
the king. In 1876 a reciprocity treaty was made with
Hawaii and continued many years. American influence be-
came paramount. In 1893 a revolution occurred which
humbled the monarchy and ended in another application for
admission to the Union. Unacted upon by the Harrison ad-
ministration, it was opposed by that of Cleveland, but approved
by that of McKinley, the islands being given a territorial gov-
36
ernment and consti-
tuted a customs dis-
trict in 1897. Their
importance, steadily
increasing, need not
be stated in detail.
Midway between the
Golden Gate and the
Manila outpost, they
sentinel our ships,
provide coaling sta-
tions, augment our
commerce, and compel
respect for our flag in
the Pacific.
By a treaty ratified
with the Republic of
Panama, over which it
holds a protectorate,
the United States on
the 15th of February
1904 became the owner
of a strip of land
known as the Canal
Zone, five miles in
width on either side of the canal now being built by our gov-
ernment to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a
stupendous undertaking, shortening the water route from New
York to San Francisco by 8,400 miles, upon which over
40,000 men are now engaged and will cost about $500,000,-
000, ;$2 10,070,468 having been appropriated for it up to June
30, 1910. It is expected to be finished in 1915. Its com-
mercial, national and international benefits are beyond com-
putation. It is the latest and in many respects the grandest
expansion of the dominion of the Stars and Stripes.
One more triumph of the flag is to be noted. It has not,
indeed, enlarged its domain, but has signally exalted its pres-
tige. After numerous expeditions by the explorers of various
nations in search of the North Pole through 400 years, attended
with much of pluck, adventure, sufl^ering and death, and uni-
formly with disappointment, Robert E. Peary, a commander
of the United States navy, at last, on the 6th of April 1909
President McKinley and Admiral Dewey
(At the ceremonies in front of the Capitol at Washington
on October 3, 1899 when the President presented to
the Admiral the sword voted by Congress)
11
reached the pole and fixed the Stars and Stripes in its icy
crest. The goal so long and so vainly striven for was attained
and by an American.
Although the close of the Spanish War is usually said to be
the time when the United States became a world power,
so called, such rank actually dates back to the Monroe Doc-
trine, declared in 1823, and since maintained inflexibly, as
Maximilian found to his undoing. It holds that European
powers shall not be permitted to extend their systems to any
part of the western hemisphere. And now the Stars and Stripes
announces unmistakably that this nation is in the affairs of
the world to stay.
The Stars and Stripes floated over a population of 84,907,-
156 according to the federal census of 1900, distributed as
follows :
United States, proper, 75,994,575
Alaska, 63,592
Hawaii, 154,001
Philippines, 7,635,426
Porto Rico, 953>243
Guam, 9,000
Samoa, 6,100
Persons in military service outside continental
United States, 91,219
Total, 84,907,156
By estimates made by the governors of the states and
territories for the year 1909 the population thereof was 89,770,-
126; and, with the island dependencies it seems probable
that the entire population will reach 100,000,000 by the census
of 1910. Only three countries, China, Great Britain and
Russia, have a larger population than the United States. It
is a population embracing all races and colors. In continental
United States each of the four main races of the world is rep-
resented in percentages as follows: white, or Caucasian, 87.9;
negro, or African, 11.6; red, or Indian, 0.3; and yellow, or
Mongolian, 0.2. Alaska is mainly Mongolian; the Philip-
pines, substantially Malayans; Porto Rico, nearly all African.
The invitation to immigration has been generous, with liberal
naturalization provisions, and the response prompt and ample.
The Stars and Stripes has welcomed all settlers here, those
wishing to better their conditions by larger reward for their
labor, or those fleeing from the oppressions of the Old World,
38
all but the Mongolians, who do not seem to be wanted here
and whose number the law restricts. For many years Ger-
mans, Irish and Scandinavians formed the bulk ot immigrants;
but of late the larger proportion has been Russian and Italian.
From 1822 until 1910 the immigrants into the United States
aggregated 26,852,723. 691,901 arrived from Europe during
1908, Russia furnishing 156,71 1, and Italy, 123,503 ; and 40,524
came from Asia. Of the entire population in 1900, 34.3 per
cent was w^holly or partially of foreign parentage. Thus far,
while there have been some vexatious questions to consider in
reference to the character of a small portion of immigrants,
there has been no serious dijfficulty in assimilating the foreign
element with American citizenship. It has dug our canals,
built our railroads, cultivated our fields, driven our looms,
helped to fight our battles, in no small degree participated in
our politics, and has loyally accepted the dominion of our flag.
The Anglo-Saxon is still the prevailing strain in American
nationality — in just what proportion it w^ere too subtle an
analysis to determine, for there has been a constant commin-
gling of stocks. But the Anglo-Saxon — the Puritan of New
England and the Cavalier of Virginia — has been at the head of
the procession as it has explored and settled the continent
through 300 years, and still is in command.
It were a long story, impossible to tell in our allotted
space, of the dominion of the flag in governmental expression;
in enlightened institutions; in the written American constitu-
tions; in the sovereignty both of the separate states and the
Union, "distinct like , the billows yet one like the sea"; in
wealth, in manufactures, in inventions, in science and in
popular education, dazzling in their array. Their mere men-
tion must here suffice. There is no reason to doubt that the
dominion of the flag, which has been so powerful and so
glorious in the past, will be equal to the call of the future, for
the flag with all its triumphs in territorial settlement and
expansion, in increasing population, in war and in peace, in
all the arts of civilization, has its crowning triumph in the
faith and love of the people.
Charles Elliott Fitch
39
102° Longitude <
GUAM
Ceded by S
Courtesy of G, & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Mass
fi-om 92° Greenwich
WAKE I.
Annejxcd
1899
MIDWAY I.
HAWAII, ^ 60 10 m
Annexed 1898 Scale
From Webster's New International Dictionary of the Enjjlish Lanijuage
NEW YORK FLAG LAWS
Education Law, Article 27
Sec. 710. Purchase and display of -flag. It shall be the
duty of the school authorities of every public school in the
several cities and school districts of the state to purchase a
United States flag, flag-stafi^ and the necessary appliances
therefor, and to display such flag upon or near the public
school building during school hours, and at such other times
as such school authorities may direct.
Sec. 711. Rules atid regulations. The said school authori-
ties shall establish rules and regulations for the proper custody,
care, and display of the flag, and when the weather will not
permit it to be otherwise displayed, it shall be placed con-
spicuously in the principal room in the schoolhouse.
Sec. 712. Commissioner of education shall prepare pro-
gram. I. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of educa-
tion to prepare, for the use of the public schools of the state,
a program providing for a salute to the flag and such other
patriotic exercises as may be deemed by him to be expedient,
under such regulations and instructions as may best meet the
varied requirements of the diflerent grades in such schools.
2. It shall also be his duty to make special provision for
the observance in the public schools of Lincoln's birthday,
Washington's birthday. Memorial day and Flag day, and such
other legal holidays of like character as may be hereafter desig-
nated by law when the legislature makes an appropriation
therefor.
Sec. 713. Military drill excluded. Nothing herein con-
tained shall be construed to authorize military instruction or
drill in the public schools during school hours.
Penal Law, Article 134
Sec 1425. 16. Any person, who in any manner, for
exhibition or display, shall place or cause to be placed, any
word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing, or any adver-
tisement, of any nature upon any flag, standard, color or
ensign of the United States of America or state flag of this
43
state or ensign, shall expose or cause to be exposed to public
view any such flag, standard, color or ensign, upon which
after the first day of September, nineteen hundred and five,
shall have been printed, painted or otherwise placed, or to
which shall be attached, appended, affixed, or annexed, any
word, figure, mark, picture, design, or drawing, or any adver-
tisement of any nature, or who shall expose to public view,
manufacture, sell, expose for sale, give away, or have in pos-
session for sale, or to give away, or for use for any purpose,
any article, or substance, being an article of merchandise, or
a receptacle of merchandise or article or thing for carrying or
transporting merchandise, upon which after the first day of
September, nineteen hundred and five, shall have been printed,
painted, attached, or otherwise placed, a representation of any
such flag, standard, color or ensign, to advertise, call attention
to, decorate, mark, or distinguish, the article or substance, on
which so placed, or who shall publicly mutilate, deface, defile,
or defy, trample upon, or cast contempt, either by words or
act, upon any such flag, standard, color or ensign, shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a
fine not exceeding one hundred dollars or by imprisonment
for not more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the
court; and shall also forfeit a penalty of fifty dollars for each
such off"ense, to be recovered with costs in a civil action, or
suit, in any court having jurisdiction, and such action or suit
may be brought by or in the name of any citizen of this State,
and such penalty when collected less the reasonable cost and
expense of action or suit and recovery to be certified by the
district attorney of the county in which the off"ense is com-
mitted shall be paid into the treasury of this State; and two
or more penalties may be sued for and recovered in the same
action or suit. The words, flag, standard, color or ensign, as
used in this subdivision or section, shall include any flag,
standard, color, ensign, or any picture or representation, of
either thereof, made of any substance, or represented on any
substance, and of any size, evidently purporting to be, either
of, said flag, standard, color or ensign, of the United States of
America, or a picture or a representation, of either thereof, upon
which shall be shown the colors, the stars, and the stripes, in
any number of either thereof, or by which the person seeing
the same, without deliberation may believe the same to repre-
sent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of the United States
44
of America. The possession by any person, other than a
pubhc officer, as such, of any such flag, standard, color or
ensign, on which shall be anything made unlawful at any
time by this section, or of any article or substance or thing on
which shall be anything made unlawful at any time by this
section shall be presumptive evidence that the same is in
violation of this section, and was made, done or created
after the first day of September, nineteen hundred and
five, and that such flag, standard, color, ensign, or article,
substance, or thing, did not exist on the first day of
September, nineteen hundred and five.
Military Law, Article i
Sec. 19. Bureau of records of the war of the rebellion;
completion and preservation of the records and relics; free
inspection of the same and quarters in the capifol. I. The
adjutant-general of the state shall establish and maintain as
part of his office, a bureau of records of the war of the rebellion,
in which all records in his office relating to such war, and
relics shall be kept. He shall be the custodian of all such
records, relics, colors, standards and battle flags of New York
volunteers now the property of the state or in its possession,
or which the state may hereafter acquire or become possessed
of, and he shall appoint a chief of this bureau who shall hold
office under his direction for six years.
2. The adjutant-general of the state by all reasonable
ways and means, shall complete such records and gather from
every available source such colors, standards and battle flags
as were borne by New York State troops in the war of the
rebellion, and such statistics and historical information and
relics as may serve to perpetuate the memory and heroic deeds
of the soldiers of the state, and keep and carefully preserve
the same in such bureau.
3. He is authorized to request and accept from incor-
porated associations of veterans of the different regiments,
statements and information duly authenticated by them,
descriptive of their colors, standards and battle flags, together
with the number and class of arms of the regiment, the date
and place of muster into the service of the state and also into
the service of the United States, the period of service, and the
date and place of muster out, the date of departure for the
seat of war, the various battles and engagements and places
45
of service, including garrison duty, the time of joining brigades,
corps and armies, with the time and nature of the service, and
the names of colonels of such regiments, the names of those
killed in action, including those who died of wounds, and the
names of those who died of disease during their period of serv-
ice. He is further authorized to ask the co-operation and
assistance of the adjutant-general of the United States, and of
Battle Flags of New York Regiments
(Sixteen cases of these flags are exhibited in the Capitol at Albany. The cards attached
to the flags give the names and engagements of the regiments)
46
the city, county and town authorities and officials, and of the
Grand Army of the Repubhc, the Mihtary Order of the Loyal
Legion, and of organizations and persons in the State of New
^ ork and elsewhere in the collection of such other informa-
tion, relics, memorials and battle flags as is contemplated by
this article, in order to make as complete as possible the
records, history and statistics of the patriotic service of the
volunteer soldiers of the state during the war of the rebellion.
4. The adjutant-general of the state is directed to cause
to be transcribed and kept in books of record in such bureau
the historical facts, information and statistics as provided
above; and is authorized to determine a convenient size for
the volumes in which such statistics and historical data may
be bound, and to request veteran associations and others pro-
posing to supply such historical data and information to furnish
the same on printed or manuscript sheets of a uniform size to
correspond with the size of such volumes.
5. He is further authorized to provide locked and sealed
cases with glass fronts, as nearly air-tight as practicable, in
which shall be kept and displayed the colors, standards and
battle flags above mentioned, and receive placards in duplicate,
which incorporated regimental veteran associations are privi-
leged and empowered to furnish and upon which shall be
inscribed synopses of the historical information and statistics
herein provided to be furnished to such bureau by regimental
veteran associations, or failing to receive such data and informa-
tion from such veteran associations, for the preparation of such
placards, he may utilize the authentic information which he
may obtain from other sources, as herein provided, which
placards shall be uniform in size and color and shall be attached
to or conspicuously placed in proximity to the colors, standards
and battle flags to which they refer. If any placard or inscrip-
tion shall be lost, destroyed or removed, the adjutant-general
of the state shall at once replace it by duplicate of the original
on file.
The legislature shall annually make suitable appropriations
to enable the adjutant-general of the state to carry out the
provisions of this section.
6. The books, records and other property and relics
deposited in such bureau shall be open to inspection and use,
except the use of the colors, standards and battle flags, at
such reasonable hours and under such regulations as the
47
adjutant-general of the state may determine. No battle flag,
book or any property placed in such bureau for the purpose
of this article, shall be removed therefrom, or from the imme-
diate custody and control of the adjutant-general of the state
without an act of the legislature.
7. The trustees of the capitol are authorized and directed
to provide suitable and convenient quarters for the bureau of
records whenever the adjutant-general of the state shall require
National and State Flags Flying F'rom the Capitol
and make demand therefor, and to properly fit up and prepare
the same for the safe-keeping of such records, books and
property, and for the display of such colors, standards, battle
flags and relics which shall be known and maintained as the
hall of military records. The several municipalities of the
state may deposit their record books and papers relating to
the war in the archives of the hall for safe-keeping, and trans-
48
cripts therefrom shall be furnished on appHcation by the chief
officer ot the municipahty without cost to it. Officers or
soldiers may deposit therein their discharge papers, descriptive
lists, muster rolls or company or regimental books and papers
for safe-keeping.
The interest arising from the investment of the funds
contributed by towns, cities and individuals for the erection of
a hall of military records shall be devoted to the maintenance
of the hall of military records provided in this section.
Public Buildings Law, Article 2
Sf:c. 4. Poivers and duties of superintejident. The super-
intendent shall :**************
5. Cause the flag of the United States and the state flag
bearing the arms of the state, to be displayed upon the capitol
building during the daily sessions of the legislature and on
public occasions, and cause the necessary flag-staffs to be erected
therefor. The necessary expenses incurred thereby shall be
paid out of the treasury on the warrant of the comptroller.
Public Buildings Law, Article 6
Sec. 81. Display of foreign fags on public buildings. It
shall not be lawful to display the flag or emblem of any foreign
country upon any state, county or municipal building; pro-
vided, however, that whenever any foreigner shall become
the guest of the United States, the state or any city, upon
public proclamation by the governor or mayor of such city,
the flag of the country of which such public guest shall be a
citizen may be displayed upon such public buildings.
Election Law, Article 5
Sec. 124. Emblems. When a party nomination is made
by a state convention of a candidate or candidates to be voted
for by the voters of the entire state, it shall be the duty of such
convention to select some simple device or emblem to designate
and distinguish the candidates of the political party making
such nominations or nomination. * * * -i: ^\\q device
or emblem chosen as aforesaid may be a star, an animal, an
anchor, or any other appropriate symbol, but neither the coat
of arms or seal of any state or of the United States, nor the
state or national flag, nor any religious emblem or symbol,
nor the portrait of any person, nor the representation of a
49
coin or of the currency of the United States shall be chosen as
such distinguishing device or emblem.
State Law, Article 6
Sec. 70. Description of the arms of the state and the
state flag. The device of arms of this state, as adopted March
sixteenth, seventeen hundred and seventy-eight, is hereby
declared to be correctly described as follows :
Charge. Azure, in a landscape, the sun in fess, rising in
splendor or, behind a range of three mountains, the middle
one the highest; in base a ship and sloop under sail, passing
and about to meet on a river, bordered below by a grassy
shore fringed with shrubs, all proper.
Crest. On a wreath azure and or, an American eagle
proper, rising to the dexter from a two-thirds of a globe terres-
trial, showing the north Atlantic ocean with outlines of its
shores.
Supporters. On a quasi compartment formed by the
extension of the scroll.
Dexter. The figure of Liberty proper, her hair disheveled
and decorated with pearls, vested azure, sandaled gules, about
the waist a cincture or fringed gules, a mantle of the last
depending from the shoulders behind to the feet, in the
dexter hand a staff ensigned with a Phrygian cap or,
the sinister arm embowed, the hand supporting the shield
at the dexter chief point, a royal crown by her sinister foot
dejected.
Sinister. The figure of Justice proper, her hair disheveled
and decorated with pearls, vested or, about the waist a cincture
azure, fringed gules, sandaled and mantled as Liberty, bound
about the eyes with a fillet proper, in the dexter hand a straight
sword hiked or, erect, resting on the sinister chief point of the
shield, the sinister arm embowed, holding before her her
scales proper.
Motto. On a scroll below the shield argent, in sable,
Excelsior.
State flag. The State flag is hereby declared to be blue,
charged with the arms of the state in the colors as described
in the blazon of this section.
Sec. 71. Painted devices of arms in certain public places.
The device of arms of the state, corresponding to the blazon
hereinbefore given, shall be painted in colors upon wood or
51
canvas, and hung upon the walls of the executive chamber,
the court of appeals, the office of the secretary of state, and
the senate and assembly chambers.
Sec. 72. Prohibition of other pictorial devices. No pic-
torial devices other than the arms of the state shall be used
in the public offices at the capitol for letter headings and
envelopes used for official business. Persons printing and cir-
culating public documents under the authority of the state,
when they use a vignette, shall place upon the title pages of
the documents the standard device of the state arms without
alterations or additions.
Sec. 73. Great seal of the state. The secretary of state
shall cause to be engraved upon metal two and one-half inches
in diameter the device of arms of this state, accurately con-
formed to the description thereof given in this article, sur-
rounded with the legend, "The great seal of the state of New
York." It alone shall be used as the great seal of the state,
and the secretary of state shall have the custody thereof.
Sec. 74. U se of the great seal. All such matters as have
issued under the great seal of the state since March sixteenth,
seventeen hundred and seventy-eight, shall continue to be
issued under such seal, except copies of papers and records
certified by the secretary of state or his deputy and authenti-
cated under his seal of office.
.■»>,
\
\> -
52
SOME FAMOUS FLAGS
A NUMBER of American flags, either for their beauty
or their association with some ilkistrious name or
notable achievement, are historically famous. Some
of these are revolutionary flags raised before the Stars
and Stripes was made, while others are of the regulation
pattern. Some are still preserved with religious care and
on special occasions shown to the public. Allusion to a
few of them will be made here.
Flag of the Bon Homme Richard
The most famous naval flag of the Revolution was that
of the Bon Homme Richard, as its commander, John Paul
Jones, was the first of the great American sea-fighters. Born
in Scotland in 1747, and becoming a sailor at twelve years of
age, he had seen much of romance and adventure on the seas,
and was settled in Virginia when, in 1775, he was made a
lieutenant in the Continental navy. He became a captain in
1776 and on June 14, 1777 he was given command of the
Ranger, a small vessel carry-
ing eighteen guns. On July
4 he is said to have hoisted
the first Stars and Stripes that
ever flew on an American man-
of-war. In 1779 he trans-
ferred the same flag to the Due
de Duras, a rotten, condemned
East Indiaman, on which he
mounted forty guns of various
caliber and renamed her, in
honor of Benjamin Franklin,
the Bon Homme Richard, with
which he took many prizes in
English waters. On the even-
ing of September 23, accom-
panied by two small vessels, courtesy of tlie Burrows Brothers company, Publishers,
1 All* 11 T> n Cleveland, Ohio
the Alliance and the r alias, From Averys History of the united states
and Its People
he fell in with a valuable piag of the Bon Homme Richard
Baltic convoy off Flamborough Head, protected by two British
men-of-war, the Serapis and the Scarborough. The Serapis
was a brand-new double-headed frigate carrying fifty guns.
The Pallas attacked the Scarborough and after a brief engage-
ment compelled her surrender, while the Alliance, by
blundering tactics, did more harm than good. The grapple
was between the Serapis and the Richard, and, notwithstand-
ing the condition and equipment of his vessel, Jones fought
one of the most desperate battles and won one of the most
brilliant victories in naval annals. There was no let-up from
beginning to end and the carnage was terrific. The better
captain won, and the better ship lost. The Richard was riddled
from stem to stern and was enveloped in flames and sinking,
but Jones kept right on pouring broadsides into the Serapis.
When his surrender was demanded, he replied, "I have not
yet begun to fight," and after several hours of the bloodiest
conflict it was the Serapis that hauled down her colors. All
hands that were left were transferred to the Serapis, her crew
were made prisoners, and the Richard was abandoned and
went to her watery grave, the dead being left with her. But
she went down "bows first" with her flag at the masthead.
Of the two crews, nearly 700 in number, 350 were killed or
wounded. As Paul Jones himself says, "the very last vestige
mortal eyes ever saw of the Bon Homme Richard was the
defiant waving of her unconquered and unstricken flag as she
went down. And as I had given them the good old ship for
their sepulchre, I now bequeathed to my immortal dead, the
flag they had so desperately defended for their winding sheet."
Was ever a finer tribute than this paid to the flag ? The flag
in the National Museum, a cut of which appears on the pre-
ceding page, was thought for a time to be the flag of the Bon
Homme Richard, but it is now conceded that the original flag
went down with the ship.
Flag of Philadelphia Light Horse
The earliest use of stripes on an American flag, as already
indicated, is believed to have been in 1775 on the banner of
the Philadelphia Light Horse Troop. The banner was pre-
sented to the troop by its first captain, Abram Markoe. It is
made of bright yellow silk, and is forty inches long and thirty-
four inches broad, with thirteen blue and silver stripes alter-
nating in the canton. Over the crest, a horse's head, are the
54
letters "L. H.," Light Horse. An American Indian and an
angel blowing a golden trumpet support the scroll under which
appear the words, "For These We Strive." The troop was
organized in 1774. When Washington left Philadelphia on
■ 1- T.-l
*s
•gg^K^
^'.Afth:. „ ~ ,
Courtesy of The Burrows Brothers Ciuiinny, From Avery's History of the United
Publishers, Cleveland, Uhio states and Its People
Standard of the Philadelphia Light Horse Troop of 1775
June 23, 1775 to go to Cambridge to assume command of
the Colonial army, he was escorted to New York by the
troop, and it is believed that this banner was carried at
that time. It is now carefully preserved by the First Troop,
Philadelphia City Cavalry.
The Eutaw Flag
The crimson standard, known as the Eutaw flag, tells a
love story of the Revolutionary times. In 1780 Colonel
William Augustine Washington, a relative of General Wash-
ington, came from Virginia to South Carolina in command of
a force of cavalry. He met and soon fell in love with Miss
Jane Elliott, who lived near Charleston. Learning one day,
when Colonel Washington was paying her a visit, that his
corps had no flag. Miss Elliott seized her scissors and cut a
square section from a piece of drapery and requested him to
accept it as his standard. He readily accepted and bore this
55
simple banner upon a hickory pole until the close of the
war. Colonel Washington and Miss Elliott were married
in 1782. The Eutaw flag was carried at the battle of
C o w p e n s and at
that of Eutaw
Springs, where it got
its name. The ban-
ner was presented
by Mrs Washington in
1827 ^^ ^h^ Washington
Light Infantry of
Charleston, and is still
in the possession of that
organization.
Pulaski's Banner
The Maryland His-
torical Society carefully
preserves at Baltimore
the banner of Pulaski,
which is reproduced on
the opposite page. Our
histories of the Revolution have not given much space to its
romantic story. Count Casimir Pulaski was a true soldier of
fortune. The son of a nobleman, he was born in Podalia,
Poland, March 4, 1748. After having been known as the lead-
ing Polish military patriot, and having been chosen commander-
in-chief of the Polish forces, he found himself at the age of
twenty-four outlawed, with his estates confiscated, and a price
set upon his head. He went to Turkey and thence to France,
and in 1777 upon the advice of Benjamin Franklin he joined
the American army as a volunteer. He attracted Washington's
attention, had a part in the battle of Germantown, and on
September 15, 1777 was appointed commander of the cavalry
with the rank of major-general. He resigned his command in
March 1778, and was authorized by Congress to raise and
organize a corps of "sixty-eight light horse and two hundred
foot." This was known as Pulaski's Legion. The banner
of the legion was made by the Moravian Single Sisters of
Bethlehem, Pa. It is twenty inches square and was attached
to a lance when borne on the field. On one side are the
letters "U S" and, in a circle around them, the words
Courtesy of The Burrows Brothers Company, Publishers,
Cleveland. Ohio
From Avery's History of the Lrnited States and Its People
The Eutaw Standard
56
"Unitas Virtus Forcior," meaning "Union Makes Valor
Stronger." The letter "c" in the last word should be "t."
On the other side, surrounding an eye, are the words, "Non
Alius Regit," meaning "No Other Governs." Pulaski carried
this banner when he was ordered to South Carolina with his
troops in 1779. On October 9, when the combined French
and American forces attacked the British at Savannah, Pulaski
• commanded the cavalry of both armies. A true soldier to the
last, he received a mortal wound in this battle and died shortly
after having been taken on board the United States brig
Wasp. This brilliant Polish soldier, an exile from his own
country, at the age of thirty-one was consigned to a watery
grave in the new land for which he gave up his life. Paul
Bentalon of Baltimore, one of Pulaski's captains, was with
him when he fell. He secured the now famous banner and it
subsequently passed into the possession of the Maryland
Historical Society, where it now remains.
"Old Glory"
The Essex Institute at Salem, Massachusetts, has in its
possession what is believed to be the first flag to receive the
name Old Glory. Captain William Driver, who was born
in Salem, March 17, 1803, is given credit for originating the
title. In 1837 he removed to Nashville, Tennessee, where he
died on March 2, 1886. In 1831 he commanded the brig
Charles Doggett on the voyage in which the mutineers of
the British ship Bounty were rescued and returned to Pitcairn
island. Captain Driver was presented with the flag just
before the brig sailed, and as it was hoisted it is said that he
christened it Old Glory. He carried his cherished flag with
him to his new home in Nashville and exhibited it upon many
occasions. When the Civil War broke out, the Confederates
tried to get possession of the flag, and searched his house for
it. He sewed it up securely in his bed covers and it was not
discovered. When the Federal troops entered Nashville on
February 25, 1862 Captain Driver secured permission to raise
his flag over the state capitol. It is said that he unfurled it
from the flag-staft^ himself, and, with tears in his eyes, as it
sw^ung free in the breeze remarked, "There, those Texas
Rangers have been huntins; for that these six months without
finding it, and thev knew I had it. I have always said if I could
see it float over that capitol I should have lived long enough;
58
now Old Glory is up there, gentlemen, and I am ready to
die." He gave the flag in 1882 to his niece, Mrs Harriet
Ruth Cooke, and upon his death in 1886 she presented it to
the Essex Institute, where it is now carefully preserved.
Through the courtesy of the institute a half tone reproduc-
tion of the flag is shown below.
'Old Glory"
59
The Confederate Flags
60
THE CONFEDERATE FLAGS
THE Confederate States of America, during their re-
volt from the Union, floated three different banners
successively. The first, known as the "stars and
bars," was adopted by the convention at Montgomery,
March 4, 1861, the very day on which Abraham Lincoln
was inaugurated president of the United States. It is thus
described in the report of the committee which recommended
its adoption :
The flag of the Confederate States of America shall consist of a red field,
with a white space extending horizontally through the center, and equal in
width to one-third the width of the flag; the red spaces above and below to be
of the same width as the white. The union blue, extending down through
the white space and stopping at the lower red space; in the center of the union,
a circle of white stars corresponding in number (then seven) with the states
of the Confederacy.
In the selection of this flag, so similar to that of the
United States, and yet diff^ering sufficiently from it, as was
assumed, to mark the distinction, it is evident that affec-
tion for the Stars and Stripes carried away those who were
arrayed against it. Indeed, the committee candidly acknowl-
edged that something "was conceded to what seemed so
strong and earnest a desire to retain at least a suggestion
of the old stars and stripes." Events, however, showed
that the resemblance was too pronounced and occasioned
confusion and mistakes, and in battle it was almost wholly
superseded by General Beauregard's battle flag, which was a
red or crimson field, its bars blue, running diagonally across
from one corner to the other, the stars, white or gold, the
blue bars being separated from the red field by a white
fillet. The need of a change became apparent, and was
thus plainly stated in the Richmond Dispatch of December
7, 1861:
We knew the flag we had to fight; yet, instead of getting as far from it,
we were guilty of getting as near to it as possible. We sought similarity,
adopting a principle dramatically wrong. We made a flag as nearly like
theirs as could only under favorable circumstances be distinguished from it.
Under unfavorable circumstances (such as constantly occur in practice), the
two flags are indistinguishable.
61
Thus, after much discussion, the second flag oi the Con-
federacy was estabhshed by its Congress, May i, 1863:
The flaff of the Confederate States shall be as follows: The field to be
white, the length double the width of the flag, with the union, now used as
the battle flag, to be a square of two-thirds of the width of the flag, having
the o-round red; therein a broad saltire (St Andrew's cross) of blue, bordered
with white and emblazoned with white mullets or five-pointed stars, corre-
sponding in number to that of the Confederate States.
The objections to this flag were that at a distance it bore a
close resemblance to the British white ensign and also that
it had the appearance of a flag of truce, and they seemed so
valid that it was resolved to add a broad transverse strip of
red to the end of the fly of the flag. So the third national ensign
of the Confederacy was adopted by its Senate on February 4,
1865, and is thus officially described:
The width two-thirds of its length; with the union now used as a battle
flag to be in width three-fifths of the width of the flag, and so proportioned
as to leave the length of the field on the side of the union twice the width below
it; to have a ground of red and broad blue saltire thereon, bordered with white,
and emblazoned with mullets or five-pointed stars, corresponding in number
to that of the Confederate States. The field to be white, except the outer half
from the union, which shall be a red bar, extending the width of the flag.
This flag was short-lived. It hardly lived to be born.
The Confederacy died at Appomatox, April 9, 1865, and with
it the flag. Southern loyalty to the Republic was renewed
and Southern love for the old flag was revived. The South vies
with the North in the arts of peace and stands shoulder to
shoulder with her in the conflict of arms. Now, for both,
there is and ever will be one land, one government, one people
and one flag — the Stars and Stripes.
THE BLUE AND THE GRAY
By the flow of the inland river.
Whence the fleets ot iron have fled.
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver.
Asleep are the ranks of the dead; —
Under the sod and the dew.
Waiting the judgment day; —
Under the one, the Blue;
Under the other, the Gray.
These in the robings of glory.
Those in the gloom ot defeat.
All with the battle-blood gory.
In the dusk of eternity meet; —
62
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day; —
Under the laurel, the Blue;
Under the willow, the Gray.
From the silence of sorrowful hours
The desolate mourners go.
Lovingly laden with flowers
Alike for the friend and the foe; —
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day; —
Under the roses, the Blue;
Under the lilies, the Gray.
So, with an equal splendor
The morning sun-rays fall.
With a touch, impartially tender.
On the blossoms blooming tor all;
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day; —
Broidered with gold, the Blue;
Mellowed with gold, the Gray.
So, when the summer calleth,
On forest and field ot grain
W^ith an equal murmur falleth
The cooling drip of the rain; —
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day; —
Wet with the rain, the Blue;
Wet with the rain, the Gray.
Sadly, but not with upbraiding,
The generous deed was done;
In the storm of the years that are fading,
No braver battle was won ; —
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day; —
Under the blossoms, the Blue;
Under the garlands, the Gray.
No more shall the war-cry sever.
Or the winding rivers be red;
They banish our anger forever
When they laurel the graves of our dead!
Under the sod and the dew.
Waiting the judgment day; —
Love and tears for the Blue;
Tears and love for the Gray.
Francis M. Finch
Judge in tfczu Tarh Court of Appeals, /SSo-gj
63
•JSMfe
THE SCHOOLHOUSE AND THE FLAG
Ye who love the Republic, remember the claim
Ye owe to her fortunes, ye owe to her name,
To her years of prosperity past and in store, —
A hundred behind you, a thousand before!
The blue arch above us is Liberty's dome.
The green fields beneath us Equality's home ;
But the schoolroom today is Humanity's friend, —
Let the people the flag and the schoolroom defend!
'Tts the schoolhouse that stands by tlie flag;
Let the nation stand by the school /
'Tis the school bell that rings for our Liberty old,
'Tis the school boy whose ballot shall rule.
Frank Treat Southwick
64
THE FLAG AND THE SCHOOLS
THE custom of raising the Stars and Stripes over the
schoolhouses of the land, especially at critical periods
in the history of the nation, as an inspiration to the
children of America, dates back nearly a century. The first
authenticated history of such a ceremony is that at Catamount
Hill, Colrain, Massachusetts in May 1812. A monument
with a suitable inscription commemorative of the event has
been placed upon the site of the log schoolhouse at Cata-
mount. The custom grew with the years and at the breaking
out of the Civil War became general in the Northern States.
There are several claimants for the honor of raising; the first
schoolhouse flag in 1861 and among these are Winchester and
Hillsboro Center, New Hampshire, and Lawrence, New Bed-
ford and Groveland, Massachusetts. Since the Civil War
the custom has been resolved in many states into law. In
1867 flags were raised over the public schools in New York
city. Later came an enthusiastic movement in which edu-
cators, lawmakers and
patriotic citizens gener-
ally took part, for com-
pelling the exhibition of
the flag at or on school-
houses, and still later
one in favor of the ob-
servance of patriotic
exercises in the schools
on the 14th of June —
Flag day. The follow-
ing statutes with these
objects in view have
been passed by various
states. The chronolog-
ical order will show the
national scope of these
laws, and it will not be
long before every state
in the Union will fly Monument at Catamount Hill
65
the Stars and Stripes over its schoolhouses and seminaries of
learning and June 14 will be a festal occasion, if not a prescribed
holiday, all over the land.
North Dakota : School boards may purchase United States
flags to place on or in buildings. March 18, 1890.
New Jersey: School boards may purchase United States
flags to place on or in buildings. May 5, 1890.
United States flag must be displayed on schoolhouses.
April 4, 1894. Flag day, June 14, to be observed in
schools. April 1907.
Colorado: United States flag must be displayed on school-
houses. March 26, 1 89 1.
Connecticut: United States flag must be displayed on
schoolhouses. June 14, 1893.
Delaware: United States flag must be displayed on school-
houses. January 31, 1895.
Montana : School authorities shall purchase and display
during school hours and at other times the United
States flag. February 26, 1895.
Wisconsin: United States flag must be displayed on school-
houses. March 29, 1895.
Massachusetts : United States flag must be displayed on
schoolhouses. April 3, 1895.
New York: United States flag must be displayed on school-
houses. April 3, 1895.
Authorities to have United States flag displayed upon
or near every public school during school hours; State
Commissioner of Education to provide program for
salute to flag, other patriotic exercises and observance
of holidays (including Flag day). April 22, 1898.
Michigan: United States flag must be displayed on school-
houses. April 4, 1895.
Designating June 14 as Flag day. May 4, 1901.
Illinois : United States flag must be displayed on school-
houses. June 26, 1895.
Flag to be placed on schoolhouses on such days as
directors may determine. June 2, 1897.
66
Ohio : United States flag must be displayed on school-
houses. March 25, 1896.
Pennsylvania : School authorities may purchase United
States flags and display at discretion. July 9, 1897.
Rhode Island : United States flag to be displayed on public
school buildings; school committees to regulate time;
February 12 to be Grand Army Flag day; commis-
sioner of public schools to prepare program. February
21, 1 90 1.
West Virginia : Boards of education may provide for and
require display of United States flag over schoolhouses.
February 22, 1901.
Wyoming: School district trustees to place United States
flags on schoolhouses. February 23, 1903.
New Hampshire: School boards to purchase flags for
schoolhouses at city or town expense not exceeding
^10 apiece. March 3, 1903.
Arizona : United States flag to be provided for each school
building; superintendent of public instruction to pre-
pare patriotic programs for holidays (including Flag
day). March 13, 1903.
Idaho: Schools to be provided with flags. March 10,
1903. Amending act of 1899.
New Mexico : Public schools to own and display United
States flag; February 12 to be celebrated as Flag
day; daily flag salute. March 10, 1905.
Oklahoma : Misdemeanor for city board of education or
school district board not to display United States flag
in schoolhouse. March 10, 1905.
Oregon : Requiring display of United States flag on school
buildings in clement weather during school hours.
February 16, 1907.
Kansas: United States flag to be displayed at public
schools; flag exercises daily and observance of holidays.
March 6, 1907.
Utah : American flag to be displayed on schoolhouses on
legal holidays, February 12 and Flag day. March
II, 1907.
67
Indiana : School trustees to accept donation for United
States flag to be displayed on holidays. March 12,
1907.
California: School authorities to provide flags to be raised
over schoolhouses during sessions; smaller flags for
class rooms. March 15, 1907.
Maine: Municipalities to furnish all schools with flags.
March 28, 1907.
Tennessee: Requiring display of United States flag on
school buildings in counties of 70,000 to 90,000. April
15, 1907.
Vermont: Requiring display of United States flag on
premises of school when in session. December 2,
1908.
Salute to the Flag for Schools
The American Flag Association, which was organized in
New" York city in 1897, is a society of individual members,
and also a union of flag committees of the patriotic societies
of the United States. The object of the association may be
stated to be "the fostering of public sentiment in favor of
honoring the flag of our country, and preserving it from
desecration, and of initiating and forwarding legal meas-
ures to prevent such desecration." The object is one to
which all patriotic citizens can subscribe. The association
has already circulated widely its suggested salute to the flag
for schools. This salute is not prescribed by the Education
Department; but is printed below for the information of
school officers and teachers and its use when practicable is
recommended.
At a given hour in the morning, the pupils are assembled
and in their places in the school. A signal is given by the
principal of the school. Every pupil rises in his place. The
flag is brought forward to the principal or teacher. While it
is being brought forward from the door to the stand of the
principal or teacher, every pupil gives the flag the military
salute, which is as follows :
The right hand uplifted, palm upward, to a line with the
forehead close to it. While thus standing with palm upward
and in the attitude of salute, all the pupils repeat together
slowly and distinctly the following pledge :
68
I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which
it stands,
One nation indivisible, with Hberty and justice tor all.
At the words, as pronounced in this pledge, "to my flag,"
each one extends the right hand gracefully, palm upward,
toward the flag until the end of the pledge aflEirmation. Then
all hands drop to the side. The pupils, still standing, all sing
together in unison the song America.
In the primary departments, where the children are very
small they are taught to repeat this, instead of the pledge as
given for the older children :
I give my head and my heart to God and my Country,
One Country, one Language, one Flag.
In some schools, the salute is given in silence, as an act
of reverence, unaccompanied by any pledge. At a signal, as
the flag reaches its station, the right hand raised palm down-
ward, to a horizontal position against the forehead, and held
there until the flag is dipped and returned to a vertical position.
Then, at the second signal, the hand is dropped to the side and
the pupil takes his seat.
The silent salute conforms very closely to the military and
naval salute to the flag.
Principals may adopt the "silent salute" for a daily exer-
cise and the "pledge salute" for special occasions.
Flag Day Exercises
for the grades
A suggested program for the grades, prepared by Miss Clara Walker, Principal
School No. 1 6, Albany, New York.
1. Chorus — America.
2. Exercise — The Flag of Our Country.
TWENTY fourth GRADE PUPILS
One pupil leads, carrying large American flag, and takes his place
on platform at extreme right. Nineteen children follow, each carry-
ing a large white letter. It is suggested that the letters forming the
words of the title be mounted on alternate red and blue shields, as
THE on red, FLAG on blue, etc. The pupil bearing the first letter
stands opposite the leader at extreme left, the others standing so that
the words may be easily read. Each pupil recites one line, except
the nineteenth, who recites two lines.
69
There is our country's banner
Held by a loyal hand;
Each heart holds it in honor
Floating o'er all the land.
Love it we shall forever,
And as we older grow.
Great hope be ours that never
Our nation's blood shall flow.
From ocean vast to ocean
O, may men ever be
United in its devotion,
Reliant, safe, and free.
Colors, crimson, blue and white,
Of these our flag is made;
Unfurled, floating in the light
Ne'er will its glory fade.
Those white stars on field of blue
Reveal the Union strong,
Yea, patient, stanch, sturdy, true.
In making right, in breaking wrong.
Leader with flag steps forward to center of the platform. At signal
the school rises and in concert gives the oath of allegiance to the
flag. (Page 69.)
3. Chorus — O, Starry Flag of Union, Hail. (Page 85.)
4. Declamation — The American Flag, by H. W. Beecher.
(Page 82.)
SIXTH GRADE BOY
5. Recitation — Captain Molly at Monmouth. (Page 98.)
FIFTH GRADE GIRL
6. Chorus — Oh, Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean. (Page
94-)
7. Tableau — Making the Flag.
THREE BOYS AND TWO GIRLS FROM SEVENTH GRADE
The boys represent General Washington, Robert Morris and
George Ross, standing, while one girl, Betsy Ross, is seated, sewing
70
on a flag. Very simple costumes will answer for this tableau. The
second girl, in ordinary dress, recites The Banner Betsy Made.
8. Song — There are Many Flags.
FIRST YEAR CLASS
Each pupil carries a small flag which is held upright during the
singing of the verses, and waved above the head while the chorus is
being sung.
g. Recitation — The Name of Old Glory. (Page 96.)
EIGHTH YEAR GIRL
10. Chorus — The Schoolhouse and the Flag. (Page 64.)
11. Recitation — A Song for Flag Day. (Page 95.)
THIRD YEAR BOY
12. Concert Recitation — God Save the Flag. (Page 96.)
ten third grade pupils
13. Chorus — The Flag Goes By. (Page 95.)
14. Evolution of the American Flag.
seven eighth grade boys
Each boy carries the flag indicated by his description. It will add
interest to this exercise if the girls of the class make the flags in their
manual training class. Cheesecloth will serve the purpose. The
boys may make the dowels and mount the banners.
First Boy — This is St George's cross which was planted at
Labrador by Cabot in 1497, to proclaim England's possessive right
to the land. It was the first English flag unfurled in America.
Second Boy — I bear the banner that first floated over the perma-
nent settlements in America. This flag was known as the King's
Colors, and was made by combining the white cross of St Andrew
and the red cross of St George, when England and Scotland were
united after centuries of war. It is believed by many historians
that the ship that brought over the Jamestown colonists in 1607, and
also the good ship Mayflower in 1620, carried both the cross of St
George and the King's Colors.
Third Boy — The Pine Tree Flag of New England, as well as the
Liberty Flag and the Rattlesnake Flag displayed the beginning of an
independent spirit among the American colonists.
Fourth Boy — The first flag of American independence was
unfurled over Washington's headquarters at Cambridge in January
1776. It was adopted by the Continental Congress, and consisted
of thirteen stripes, representing the thirteen united colonies, and
71
retained the King's Colors as evidence that the colonists still considered
themselves Englishmen.
Fifth Boy — This flag must thrill every heart as we realize that
our fathers, assembled in Congress, June 14, 1777, nearly a year
after the Declaration of Independence vi^as passed, adopted this
design of thirteen stripes and thirteen stars to show to all the nations
on earth the right of the new-born nation to a place among them.
Sixth Boy — Although Vermont was admitted into the Union in
1 791 and Kentucky in 1792, no change was made in the flag until
July 4, 1795, when by act of Congress two stripes and two stars
were added. In a few years it became evident that it would be im-
possible to continue to add a star and a stripe for each new State.
In 18 18, there then being twenty States, Congress enacted a law mak-
ing the flag of the United States thirteen alternate red and white
horizontal stripes, and providing that one star be added to the union
of the field upon the admission of each new state.
Seventh Boy — Our country's flag! Proudest emblem of our
nation's life! America's heroes lifted it high over Fort Stanwix,
Saratoga, Monmouth, Stony Point, Yorktown, Gettysburg, Vicks-
burg, Richmond, San Juan and Manila. It has been carried to the
North Pole by American hands. Wherever it goes, may it forever
carry peace and prosperity.
15. Semichorus — Our Flag High Above. (Page 99.)
SEVENTH AND EIGHTH GRADES
16. Solo and Chorus — Star Spangled Banner. (Page 86.)
solo by sexth grade boy
17. Flag Drill.
twenty-six second grade pupils
M Rliia
Rpd
M
1.
Whi tp
L
K
Rpd
K
T
Whitp
J
T
Red
T
H
WhitP
H
Cy
Red
G
t
Whitp
F
r
Rpd
E
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Whitp
n
C
RpH
c
R
WhiTP
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A
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A
This may be given by equal numbers of boys and girls, or in
couples to suit the personnel of the class. Couple A A are the smallest,
72
M M the largest. The diagram will explain the arrangement as it
appears at the final figure in the formation of the flag. Strips of
cheesecloth of suitable length to make the desired width of the flag,
are used. The ends of the strips are pinned to the shoulders of A A,
B B, etc. Couples join hands in center of strip and hold it from the
floor during the march. Beginning with G G the strips must be of
two colors sewed together: G G has red and blue, H H has white and
blue, etc. White paper stars pasted on the blue will enhance the eff"ect.
Children enter stage in couples, A A, B B, etc., in order. March for-
ward, turn to left, march to back, down center. A A turn to right,
B B to left, C C to right, D D to left, etc. Meeting at center back,
couples fall into first position, B B following A A, etc. Down center,
separate as before, come forward from center back in double couples,
with space between E E F F and stand marking time.
C C D D
A A B B
The odd couple M M advance through space between the lines; one
turns to right, one to left, winding in and out between couples until
they reach position at back. The two columns move forward, A A
turning to the left, B B to right, C C to left, etc., until they reach
center back, when they fall into first position. Couples separate
length of streamer, thereby showing flag in position. Close up ranks
and march off in couples.
1 8. Chorus — My Own United States.
For High Schools
A suggested piogram for high schools prepared by Supt. F. D. Boynton,
Ithaca, New York.
Chorus — The Star Spangled Banner Key
Declamation — The Stars and Stripes .... Sumtzer
Essay — The Evolution of the American Flag.
Recitation — The American Flag Drake
Chorus — Battle Hymn of the Republic .... Howe
Essay — What the Flag Stands For.
Declamation — The Man without a Country . . Hale
Chorus — Hail Columbia Hopkinson
Recitation — The Blue and the Gray Finch
Declamation — Gettysburg Speech Lincoln
Chorus — Tenting on the Old Camp Ground . . Smith
Essay — Explanation of famous sayings on page 79.
Salute to the Flag by the school.
Chorus — America Smith
73
I
2
3
4
5-
6.
7
8
9
10
II
12
13
14
How TO Make a Flag
Prepared by Miss Grace C. Parsons, instructor in sewing and drawing,
Vocational School, Albany, New York.
I. She. 9' 9" X 6' 6".
This particular size is suggested for convenience of
measurements. The proportions, however, are close to those
prescribed by United States Armv regulations.
II. Material.
8 yards of red bunting.
3^ yards of blue bunting.
8 yards of white bunting.
1 yard of canvas.
i^ yards of stout muslin.
2 harness rings.
2 spools of white thread, no. 6o.
III. The Plan.
The planning of the flag can be done as a class lesson —
a drawing made by each pupil.
The field of the union should be 3' 9" x 3' 6'\ the stripes
6" wide, and the canvas binding at back 2^" wide, when fin-
ished (see diagram I).
The forty-six stars are arranged in six rows, eight in the
-3-3-
vo
^•^
**•• • • ^ I
*
-1-
-\~
-\-
--
^
-H
-1-
1
r -
- -
- -
- -
- -
-
-
4-
+
1-
+-
4-
+
t
-h
+
-+
4-
4-
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+
4
+
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■+-
-f-
-t-
+■
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(3)
first, seven in the second, eight in the next two, seven in the
next, and eight in the last (see diagram I).
The arrangement of stars
will be according to diagram
II. The length of the blue
field can be divided into eighths
and the depth into sixths.
This makes forty-eight ob-
longs. The rows having eight
stars will have the stars placed
in center of oblong, those hav-
ing seven stars, the center of star
placed on line (see diagram II).
Two rings \" in diameter
are placed in the canvas strip \" from the end.
IV. The Star.
The class can then make the pattern for a five-pointed star.
The geometric problem of constructing a pentagon within a
circle is the one involved.
Draw a 4" circle. Draw the horizontal and vertical
diameters A B and C D. Make the point of intersec-
tion E. Bisect E B and mark the point of intersection F.
With F as center and C F as radius, transcribe an arc
cutting A E. Mark point of intersection G. With G C as
radius and C as center, describe two arcs on either side
of C cutting circumference at H and J. With H and J as
centers and same radius de-
scribe tw^o more arcs, cutting
circumference at K and L.
Connecting points on cir-
cumference gives pentagon.
Connect C K and C L, J L
and J H, and H K. This
w^ill give the five-pointed star.
Cut this out for pattern (see
diagram III).
A star may be cut quickly
by folding as in diagram IV.
V. Computing Amount of
Material and Cost.
After the drawing has been made and the stars cut,
75
the class can compute the amount of material necessary
and the cost.
The bunting comes one yard wide.
Let the pupils find the number of stripes of red and of
white that can be cut from one
width of goods. One-half inch
must be allowed for seams,
and one inch for hem at end
of flag. Plan to have the two
outside red stripes selvage.
Compute amount of blue
needed. It will probably be
necessary to have a seam
lengthwise through the middle
of the blue field.
Then figure the amount of
muslin for ninety-two stars
like pattern and the amount
of canvas for binding.
The flag should be enforced
at each back corner where the
rings are placed, by an extra
piece of bunting {6" x j")
stitched flat like a patch. This
will come on the blue field
and on the lowest red stripe.
VI. The Making.
The two pieces which
strengthen the corners where
the rings are placed should be
stitched down first.
The seams are felled and made as narrow as possible
(tV finished). They should be carefully basted and stitched
on a machine.
The blue field can be divided up in sections as planned
on drawing (diagram II). This can be marked out by stretch-
ing a chalked cord at opposite division points and snapping
it down on cloth.
To mark the centers make a pattern of one oblong and
punch a small hole in center. Lay pattern on each oblong
of cloth and chalk center.
Cf) O/^oouvS rei/er^e of (§)
Cut on dolfcol J/ne. at CI)
76
Each star can be overcast with a shallow but close stitch
before sewing to field. It can then be basted on one side of
the field, then on the opposite side,
and finally stitched to the blue. The
stitching should be from point to point
through the center as in diagram V.
In seaming the blue field to the
stripes, seam across the flag first, then
down the length in one seam.
Stitch hem on end of flag with
three rows of stitching and canvas
binding at back with two rows.
The harness rings can be laid on canvas an inch from the
end and marked for inside circle — the goods cut from center
of circle to mark in three or four places, turned back on ring
and buttonholed over with stout linen thread (see diagram VI).
The work can be divided up as it seems feasible. A group
of girls can sew the stripes
together — another group can
baste the stars on while a third
group is overcasting the edges
of the stars.
FROM THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL
Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within hmi hurn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd,
From wandering on a foreign strand!
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name.
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown.
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung.
Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung.
Sir Walter Scott
11
IN DEFENSE OF FLAG AND COUNTRY
Don't give up the ship. Capt. James Lawrence
Sink or swim, Hve or die, survive or perish, I give my
heart and my hand to this vote. John Adams
A star for every state, and a state for every star.
Robert Charles Winthrop
See, there is Jackson, standing Hke a stone wall.
Bernard E. Bee
I propose to hght it out on this line if it takes all summer.
Ulysses S. Grant
We have met the enemy, and they are ours.
Oliver Hazard Perry
A little more grape, Captain Bragg.
General Zachary Taylor
I am not worth purchasing, but such as I am, the king
of England is not rich enough to buy me.
General Joseph Reed
I know not what course others may take; but, as for me,
give me liberty or give me death. Patrick Henry
I have not yet begun to fight. Paul Jones
There they are, boys ; we must beat them today, or this
night Molly Stark's a widow. Colonel John Stark
Millions for defense, not one cent for tribute.
Charles C. Pinckney
ril try, sir. Colonel James Miller
If any one attempts to haul down the American flag,
shoot him on the spot. General John A. Dix
I regret that I ha\e but one life to give to my country.
Nathan Hale
79
The Story of a New York Boy
EVERY boy and girl ought to know the story of Colonel
Elmer E. Ellsworth, a New York boy whose death in
defense of the flag at Alexandria, Virginia, on May 24, 1861,
was a tragic incident in the beginning of the Civil War. He
was born at Mechanicville, New York, on April 23, 1837.
His parents were poor and he was early thrown on his own
resources. As a mere boy he drifted to Troy and then to
New York, where he worked at whatever he could find to do.
Always passionately fond of military tactics, he spent much
time in New York watching the drill of the Seventh Regiment
and in perfecting himself in the manual of arms. At the age
of twenty-two we find him a student in a law office in Chicago,
going hungry many times and sleeping on the floor of the
office. He became an expert fencer and soon was captain of
a company of young men known as the Chicago Zouaves.
Drilling his company to perfection, he challenged the militia
companies of the United States and made a successful tour of
the country in the summer of i860, surpassing many of the
crack companies in eastern cities. At the age of twenty-three
he went back to Chicago one of the most talked of men in the
country. Soon thereafter he entered the law office of Abraham
Lincoln at Springfield, and while making speeches in support
of Lincoln's candidacy for the presidency, he was dreaming of
a national bureau of militia, and more, he was making definite,
rational plans to that end. He accompanied the president-
elect to Washington, and Lincoln made him a lieutenant in
the army. When the war broke out he went to New York
and organized the New York Zouaves, a regiment of 1,100
men, and early in May 1861 brought his regiment to Wash-
ington. On the evening of May 23 he was ordered with his
regiment to occupy the town of Alexandria, Virginia. This
he did at dawn the following morning without resistance. On
his way with a squad of Zouaves to take possession of the
telegraph office he caught sight of a Confederate flag floating
from the summit of the Marshall House. Accompanied by
four soldiers he rushed into the hotel, up the stairs to the roof,
and tore down the flag. Coming down the stairs he was met
by the hotel-keeper and shot dead. The uniform he wore,
the sword he carried, and the Confederate flag he tore down
are now displayed in the capitol at Albany and are reproduced
on the opposite page. A monument at Mechanicville marks
80
the last resting place of this brilliant young New York soldier,
who gave up his life at the very beginning of a great civil war
which was to purge the country of its greatest evil and more
firmly establish the flag of the Union.
The American Flag
A THOUGHTFUL mind, when it sees a nation's flag,
sees not the flag only, but the nation itself; and what-
ever may be its symbols, its insignia, he reads chiefly in the
flag the government, the principles, the truth, the history,
which belong to the nation that sets it forth.
When the French tricolor rolls out to the wind, we see
France. When the new-found Italian flag is unfurled, we see
resurrected Italy. When the other three-cornered Hungarian
flag shall be lifted to the wind, we shall see in it the long-buried
but never dead principles of Hungarian liberty. When the
united crosses of St Andrew and St George, on a fiery ground,
set forth the banner of Old England, we see not the cloth
merely; there rises up before the mind the noble aspect of
that monarchy, which, more than any other on the globe, has
advanced its banner for liberty, law, and national prosperity.
This nation has a banner, too; and wherever it streamed
abroad, men saw daybreak bursting on their eyes, for the
American flag has been the symbol of liberty, and men rejoiced
in it. Not another flag on the globe had such an errand, or
went forth upon the sea, carrying everywhere the glorious
tidings.
The stars upon it were to the pining nations like the morn-
ing stars of God, and the stripes upon it were beams of morning
light.
As at early dawn the stars stand first, and then it grows
light, and then as the sun advances, that light breaks into
banks and streaming lines of color, the glowing red and intense
white striving together and ribbing the horizon with bars
eff^ulgent, so on the American flag, stars and beams of many-
colored light shine out together. And wherever the flag
comes, and men behold it, they see in its sacred emblazonry
no rampant lion and fierce eagle, but only LIGHT, and every
fold significant of liberty.
The history of this banner is all on one side. Under it
rode Washington and his armies; before it Burgoyne laid
down his arms. It waved on the highlands at West Point;
82
it floated over old Fort Montgomery. When Arnold would
have surrendered these valuable fortresses and precious
legacies, his night was turned into day, and his treach-
ery was driven away, by the beams of light from this starry
banner.
It cheered our army, driven from New York, in their
solitary pilgrimage through New Jersey. It streamed in light
over Valley Forge and Morristown. It crossed the waters
rolling with ice at Trenton; and when its stars gleamed in the
cold morning with victory, a new day of hope dawned on the
despondency of the nation. And when, at length, the long
years of war were drawing to a close, underneath the folds of
this immortal banner sat Washington, while Yorktown sur-
rendered its hosts, and our Revolutionary struggles ended with
victory.
Let us then twine each thread of the glorious tissue of our
country's flag about our heartstrings; and looking upon our
homes and catching the spirit that breathes upon us from the
battle-fields of our fathers, let us resolve, come weal or woe,
we will, in life and in death, now and forever, stand by the
stars and stripes. They have been unfurled from the snows
of Canada to the plains of New Orleans, in the halls of the
Montezumas and amid the solitude of every sea; and every-
where, as the luminous symbol of resistless and beneficent
power, they have led the brave to victory and to glory. They
have floated over our cradles; let it be our prayer and our
struggle that they shall float over our graves.
Henry Ward Beecher
Reply to the Mayor of New York City
February 20, 1861
THERE is nothing that could ever bring me to consent —
willingly to consent — to the destruction of this Union (in
which not only the great city of New York, but the whole
country, has acquired its greatness), unless it would be the thing
for which the Union itself was made. I understand that the
ship is made for the carrying and preservation ot the cargo;
and so long as the ship is safe with the cargo, it shall not be
abandoned. This Union shall never be abandoned, unless
the possibility of its existence shall cease to exist without the
necessity of throwing passengers and cargo overboard.
Abraham Lincoln
83
The Star Spangled Banner
THE Star Spangled Banner! Was ever flag so beautiful,
did ever flag so fill the souls of men ? The love of woman ;
the sense of duty; the thirst for glory; the heart-throbbing
that impels the humblest American to stand by his colors,
fearless in the defense of his native soil, and holding it sweet
to die for it— the yearning which draws him to it when exiled
from it— its free institutions and its blessed memories, all are
embodied and symbolized by the broad stripes and bright
stars of the nation's emblem, all live again in the lines and
tones of Key's anthem. Two or three began the song, millions
join in the chorus. They are singing it in Porto Rican trenches
and on the ramparts of Santiago, and its echoes, borne upon
the wings of morning, come rolling back from far away Manila;
the soldier's message to the soldier; the hero's shibboleth in
battle; the patriot's solace in death! Even to the lazy sons
of peace who lag at home— the pleasure-seekers whose merry-
making turns the night to day— those stirring strains come
as a sudden trumpet-call, and, above the sounds of revelry,
subjugated for the moment to a stronger power, rises wave
upon wave of melodious resonance, the idler's aimless but
heartfelt tribute to his country and his country's flag.
Henry Watterson
WHEN my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last time
the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on
the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union ;
on states dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent
with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood!
Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather behold the
gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now known and honored
Throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and
trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased
or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto
no such miserable interrogatory as "What is all this worth ?
nor those other words of delusion and folly, "Liberty first and
Union afterwards"; but everywhere, spread over all in charac-
ters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float
over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the
whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true Ameri-
can heart— Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and
inseparable! ' Daniel Webster
84
Our Flag
THERE is the national flag! He must be cold, indeed,
who can look upon its folds, rippling in the breeze, with-
out pride of country. If he be in a foreign land the flag is
companionship and country itself, with all its endearments.
Who, as he sees it, can think of a state merely ? Whose eye,
once fastened on its radiant trophies, can fail to recognize
the image of the whole nation .? It has been called a "floating
piece of poetry"; and yet I know not if it has any intrinsic
beauty beyond other ensigns. Its highest beauty is in what
it symbolizes. It is because it represents all, that all gaze at
it with delight and reverence. It is a piece of bunting lifted
in the air; but it speaks sublimely, and every part has a voice.
Its stripes, of alternate red and white, proclaim the original
union of thirteen states to maintain the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. Its stars, white on a field of blue, proclaim that
union of states constituting our national constellation, which
receives a new star with every new state. The two, together,
signify union, past and present. The very colors have a lan-
guage, which was ofiicially recognized by our fathers. White
is for purity, red for valor, blue for justice ; and all together —
bunting, stripes, stars, and colors blazing in the sky — make
the flag of our country, to be cherished by all of our hearts,
to be upheld by all of our hands. Charles Sumner
O STARRY FLAG OF UNION, HAIL!
O starry flag of Union, hail!
Now wave thy silken folds on high.
The gentle breeze that stirs each sail
Proclaims a broad dear freedom nigh.
Who dares haul down from mast or tow'r,
Yon emblem of Columbia's pride,
His life holds light in that dread hour,
Since brave men for that flag have died.
We raise no hand for strife or war,
We plead for peace for ev'ry land;
But love we always each bright star,
Each color, stripe, and rain-bow strand.
Blue field, thy stars for ev'rv state;
Thy crimson stripes, thx peerless ivlitte.
Wave now o'er us, ivhtle our chorus
Swells our watchword, God and Right I
Charles W. Johnson
85
^^^^^■■m III! ■ lllllll II '■
TJEI filVCE
Tlie einifif'd soni'vai-i-ompoi-"! '«i3<Ttli-
*eli UjiUnn.rc, ill » lljg uf Ii>1';k forlV» iJ-i
post of (ji-'iiii-f reie«s«i ffom tlie biii;';i rt'- i
a friend of hi, who had bpen csjiUireii s'- M-n i-
bormigh. — He WenU< far as llie mnuih of Cie i
?nlmenl, anJ wm not permitteil to return let!
the iiiiendeii auac-k oa hallimore should hr
dSclosed He was therefore brought op ihe
Bay to the mouiln of the I'lHiijiiico, wh. re lb ■
flag vessel w«» kept under (be guns of a fri-
gate, and he was compelled to witiices the
bombardment o1 Fort M 'Henry, which the
AUmiral had boasted that he would cai^ry in
i (ev hours, and that the city must fall He
watched the Hag at the fort through Ihe whnlo
day with an anxiety that can be better felt
than described, until the nighi prevented him
from seeing it. In the ni»,hl lie wuiched the
Bomb Shells, and at earl) dawn hi" eye w js
k^ain greeted by the prcudly wiving Hag of
hi» country.
7'Kne— A.NACRBOM IS UsaVES.
O! My can yuu see by the dawn's early light.
What «o proiiJiy we hiiled at the (wiiighl's
last gleaming,
Whose broad stripcjand bright «lars through
lUe perilous hf^bt.
O'er 'he rampirts we watch'dj were JOgal-
lant'y streaming!'
And the lluf keu' red glare, the Bombs burst-
ing in air,
Oave proof throagh th< night, that our I'lag
was fttiU tliere j
O '. «ay does that «tar-<pangl*d Banner yet
wave.
O'er Uk Land of tbe free, and the borne cf
th« brave?
On the tbore dimly leen throagh the mitts of
the deep,
' IVbere the foe's hanghty'host in dread >i-
lence repofle.,,
Wliat is that which the breeae, o'er the tow-
ering steep,
As it fitfullj blows, half conceals, half dis-
closes ?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's
first beam.
In full glory reflected now .bines in the stimin,
'"^18 the uar spangled bejraer, O! long may
it wa»e.
O'er the land of the frais aad the home of
the brare. " ,_ -
And it'lierc is that hend who w TaooUngly
swore
Ybat the havoc of war aad tbe batila't eoa-
fusioil,
^home a nd • coBntty, should leare as no more'
1%eir blood hat w4thed oat their foul foot^
slept pulhilion.
Ifo refuge could save the' hireling and slare,
From the terror of flight or tbe gioom of the
grave,
And the star-ipangled banner in iriamph
doUi wave.
O'er the Land of the Free, atjd the Home
bf iho Bmvc. . :,
<9 '■ 'hw* be it e'er when freemen eball ttand* .
ii |Sel«feB« their lor^l' haraes, Wid Ihe w»f'»
V- de*DSati»h,
tifest with vim'ry mat peace, may the Heav'n
resetted land.
Praise the Power Chat hath made nod pre-
terv'd iu a Didon f ' ' -' ' . '.
.4tt^'^ cnn(i*er we mCnt, w'aew oil M.S9C il i»
<r/d this 6e otlr motto— 'In God it oorTmrt'
" And the star-tpaogled Bacoer in triumph
"" "^v, '^ eh«ll wave,
O'er the Land of the Free, and the Hotae
■■=..•, <iJF file Save- ' ^--.
, Sepf 2/
*;rday fo /
sitice learn M i.
not being mcniioneu
■niiiisl. the glory yoor-^ „ ,
,.;r3 I'i ihe marine ^jj^rps » ^
,.L'K,;i: I iri*y /■'y, ur,...-r the ey
.-If-a', alT.1 fume i-iii do yii'j jajtl-:,
■I. ?;jv w'shes foryo'ir speedy J
..'. .0, t inv respects to lieuts. R .'
. ' ''i, Lur.' am) Kir.oUe, who «.^
on (hat inemor.iV'i^ day.
I am, sir, with respect yoor ol
vjnt, JUSJIUABAlv
Lapt. A .^EVlKR,
Marine Corps, t^'ashington.
tVASiirs'iro.f, I
H.iih Hoijs 5 of Cnnnress yesifr ,
a i|iiormii. and appointed a joint cocnr/
10 inform the I'resi-JeiU that they We/
n,ed and ready to receive any commun.'
be might have to make. It is probablf^
fore that the ftlessaLie will be deliverer,
r-
\Vc had yesterday no addition*,'
lion of an authentic cliuricterftoi/
borhood of Flaitsburg, which is n
tre of the most interesting ope /
The glorious victory obiainy''
force on Lake Cliampiatn is t
of that achieved just a year/
Crie, and was perhaps cquy'
its consequences. Tbe bat^
tha capture of one British ar
the traniiuility of our western ».
battle of Champlaifl preceded ,.
complished the defeat of another -
Eencd a formidable invasion of oti
froniier, by an incursion into the |
lous state in the Union. I'hc recti
has every where diffused heart-fcl]
been received with welcome salut I
long as history prolongs to posterij
collection of other tiroes, llie oameri
and iMaciionouch will beremeinot
tb«r and the tenth and eleventh of q
be recorded as fortunate days m tii>\
of the Republic II. ,
CONCaERS UNITED STAj
MOKDAT, SETT 19. '
This being the day astigned by /
mation of the President tor the
Coagres,s, the Members assero'''
partments prepared lor their 8
at the Uiuu hour. Tl^ese to
from Iwia^ as commodioos v
occupied by the two housr
more comfortable than cr
pecCed from the exterior
building in which hey are
been vi-ry neatlj and expedi
onder ibe diction of the Sa^
the city.
/iV &ENAT&. \
The Vice PfMidcnt not having »i\
Hon^ Jobn Gaiiianl, of ^outb Csni
Bitted the Chair as President pro te\
of the Senat;. /
The roll having been called, it/
that the following members were p;
from Stxi- llamyshxrt — .Mr.
Slassitchuiiui — Mr. Vamqni
Rhode Island — Vlt. HowetL
fermow— Mr. Ri>binton.
tenns'^tvania^^yitmi. L
berts.
Oelarcarf — Mr. Horsey.
yir^it-ia — Messrs. Brent
A'mtA Carolina — Mr. Tui
SoxM^CaTulina—Ms, Qm
,. Gtorgia — Mr. Tuit. W
A'en'aiiy— Mr. Bl<!dsp»,,^
TtnMtste — MeasT^-*"
loo.
oiuo—y-
hop' ,^'
The St.-\r Sp.-\n'gled Banner
(Reproduced from Baltimore American of September 21, 1814)
86
THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER
THE Star Spangled Banner has not been formally
adopted as a national anthem, because it relates to a
special war incident and does not meet all the require-
ments of a national song. It is, however, generally acclaimed
as one of the noblest and most inspiring of American lyrics
and, under army and navy regulations, is played at morning
and evening "colors." It is more frequently recited and sung
on patriotic occasions and in the schools than any American
song, with the exception, perhaps, of America. The circum-
stances under which it was written give it peculiar interest.
Its author was Francis Scott Key, a lawyer who practised in
Maryland and Washington. He was born in Frederick county,
Maryland, August i, 1779, and died in Baltimore, Jan
uary 11, 1843. ^ large national flag floats over
grave in Mount Olivet cemetery in Frederick an
is never lowered, except to be replaced by a new
one. A volume of his poems was published
in 1856, but the Star Spangled Ban
alone makes his name immortal. Mr
Key was in custody on the British frigate
Surprise during the attackon Fort McHenry,
September 13, 1814, and the poem vividly
describes what he then witnessed. From the
vessel he anxiously watched the flag on the
fort during the day and through the night, by
"the rockets' red glare," and to his joy saw in
the morning the "broad stripes and bright
stars" still "gallantly streaming" and the
British beating a retreat. He began to write
on the ship and upon his release completed
the stanzas at a hotel in Baltimore. A fac-
simile of the poem as it was originally pub-
lished on September 21, 18 14 in the Baltimore
American appears on the opposite page.
The flag that floated over Fort McHenry
is now preserved in the National Museum
at Washington.
NCvTHE^BO.MS
FQR.t; ^
FROM APOli:
-^HIS POSITION
Bronze Memorial Tablet
Erected by the United States Government
at Fort McHenrj', June 1909
87
THE AMERICAN FLAG
When Freedom from her mountain height
Unfurled her standard to the air,
She tore the azure robe of night,
And set the stars of glory there.
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes
The milky baldric of the skies,
And striped its pure celestial white
With streakings of the morning light;
Then from his mansion in the sun
She called her eagle bearer down,
And gave into his mighty hand
The symbol of her chosen land.
Majestic monarch of the cloud!
Who rear'st aloft thy regal form
To hear the tempest trumpings loud.
And see the lightning lances driven,
When strive the warriors of the storm,
And rolls the thunder-drum of heaven!
Child of the Sun! to thee 'tis given
To guard the banner of the free.
To hover in the sulphur smoke,
To ward away the battle stroke.
And bid its blendings shine afar.
Like rainbows on the cloud of war,
The harbinger of victory.
Flag of the brave! thy folds shall fly,
The sign of hope and triumph high;
When speaks the signal trumpet tone.
And the long line comes gleaming on,
Ere yet the life-blood warm and wet.
Has dimmed the glistening bayonet.
Each soldier's eye shall brightly turn
To where thy sky-born glories burn;
And, as his springing steps advance.
Catch war and vengeance from the glance.
And when the cannons' mouthings loud
Heave in wild wreaths the battle shroud.
And gory sabers rise and fall
Like shoots of flame on midnight's pall.
Then shall thy meteor glances glow.
And cowering: foes shall sink beneath
Each gallant arm that strikes below
That lovely messenger of death!
88
Flag of the seas! on ocean wave
Thy stars shall glitter o'er the brave;
When death, careering on the gale,
Sweeps darkly round the bellied sail,
And frighted waves rush wildly back
Before the broadsides reeling rack,
Each dying wanderer at sea
Shall look at once to Heaven and thee.
And smile to see thy splendors fly
In triumph o'er his closing eye.
Flag of the free heart's hope and home
By angels' hands to valor given;
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,
And all thy hues are born in Heaven.
Forever float that standard sheet!
Where breathes the foe but falls before us,
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet.
And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us.
Joseph Rodman Drake, the author of
The American Flag was born in New
York city on August 7, 1795. He was a
poet from boyhood, his earliest poem,
The Mocking Bird, being written when he
was a mere child. In 18 19, together with
Fitz Greene Halleck, he began contribut-
ing verses to the New Tork Evening Post
under the title of The Croakers. The
American Flag first appeared in this series
in the issue of May 29, 1819. The last
four lines of the poem were written by
Halleck, at Drake's request, because he
was not satisfied with his own concluding
lines. Culprit Fay, a widely known poem,
has its scene in the highlands of the Hudson
river. Drake died on September 21, 1820,
and was buried at Hunt's Point, Westchester
county, N. Y. His death prompted his
friend Halleck to write the familiar lines :
Green be the turf above thee,
Friend of my better days !
None knew thee but to love thee,
Nor named thee but to praise.
89
'•C-* c c-cc^
Reproduced from Preble's History of the Flag
90
THE AUTHOR OF AMERICA
THE REV. FRANCIS SMITH D.D., the author of
America, was born in Boston on October 21, 1808. He
died at Newton Centre, Massachusetts, November 16,
1895. He graduated at Harvard College with the famous class
of 1829, ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ subject of Holmes's familiar lines:
"And there's a nice youngster of excellent pith;
Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith."
He was an editor, preacher and poet. He wrote more
than 100 hymns. He is best known, of course, by the national
hymn America. The circumstances under which it was writ-
ten will be shown best in Dr Smith's own words in a letter
written in 1872, to Captain Preble of the United States navy.
"The origin of my hymn, 'My Country 'tis of Thee,' is
briefly told. In the year 1831, Mr William C. Woodbridge
returned from Europe, bringing a quantity of German music-
books, which he passed over to Lowell Mason. Mr Mason,
with whom I was on terms of friendship, one day turned them
over to me, knowing that I was in the habit of reading German
works, saying, 'Here, I can't read these, but they contain
good music, which I shoidd be glad to use. Turn over the
leaves, and, it you find anything particularly good, give me a
translation or imitation of it, or write a wholly original song —
anything, so I can use it.'
"Accordingly, one leisure afternoon, I was looking over
the books, and fell in with the tune of 'God Save the King,' and
at once took up my pen and wrote the piece in
question. It was struck out at a sitting, without the
slightest idea that it would ever attain the popular-
ity it has since enjoyed. I think it was written in
the town of Andover, Mass., in February, 1832.
The first time it was sung publicly was at a
children's celebration of American independence,
at the Park Street Church, Boston, I think, July
4, 1832. If I had anticipated the future of it,
doubtless I would have taken more pains with
it. Such as it is, I am glad to have contributed
this mite to the cause of American freedom."
:v/
91
HAIL COLUMBIA
Hail Columbia — happy land,
Hail ye heroes — heaven-born band,
Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause,
Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause,
And when the storm of war was done,
Enjoyed the peace your valor won —
Let Independence be our boast.
Ever mindful what it cost;
Ever grateful for the prize.
Let its altars reach the skies.
Firm, united, let us be.
Rallying round our Liberty,
As a band of brothers joined.
Peace and safety we shall find.
Immortal Patriots, rise once more.
Defend your rights, defend your shores;
Let no rude foe with impious hand,
Let no rude foe with impious hand.
Invade the shrine, where sacred lies.
Of toil and blood, the well-earned prize.
While offering Peace, sincere and just,
In Heaven we place a manly trust.
That Truth and Justice will prevail,
And every scheme of bondage fail.
Firm, united, let us be.
Rallying round our Liberty,
As a band of brothers joined.
Peace and safety we shall find.
Sound, sound the trump of fame.
Let Washington's great name
Ring through the world with loud applause.
Ring through the world with loud applause,
Let every clime to Freedom dear.
Listen with a joyful ear;
With equal skill, with godlike power,
He governs in the fearful hour
Of horrid war; or guides with ease
The happier times of honest peace.
Firm, united, let us be,
Rallying round our Libertv,
As a band of brothers joined.
Peace and safety we shall find.
92
Behold the chief, who now commands,
Once more to serve his country stands.
The rock on which the storm will beat,
The rock on which the storm will beat.
But arm'd in virtue, firm and true.
His hopes are fixed on Heaven and you.
When hope was sinking in dismay.
And clouds obscured Columbia's day.
His steady mind, from changes free,
Resolved on Death or Liberty.
Firm, united, let us be.
Rallying round our Liberty,
As a band of brothers joined.
Peace and safety we shall find.
Joseph Hopkinson, the author of Hail
Columbia was born at Philadelphia, Pa., on
November 12, 1770. Francis Hopkinson,
his father, was one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence. He was a
lawyer, representative to Congress, judge in
a United States District Court, vice-presi-
dent of the American Philosophical Society,
president of the Philadelphia Academy of
Fine Arts, and a writer on legal, educa-
tional and ethical subjects. He is best
known, however, as the author of our
famous national song, which was written
in the summer of 1798, when the American
people were taking sides in the contest
between England and France. The object
of the poem was "to get up an American
spirit which should be independent of, and
above, the interests, passion, and policy of
both belligerents, and look and feel exclu-
sively for our honor and rights." Judge
Hopkinson died at Philadelphia on January
15, 1842.
9.3
C(rvu^4iAiyCC mt f ^*^ (^ Chi C^ce^^^iy
'r^H.1'1^ ^v /iAmt^^Zl ifH4y ^"u^ nM^ ^la^C' c/u^w,
Cui.^ ^iXC ^Aru^ it^ 'VCoU' 'to' ffU^ (rU^M^^
///a^ Pttc i^tt-cJUfCs IAjC^ /C<2^^ urtrpu '^^LCt/ti' unTruJi
ftirV -tHc' jZoAy c^ ~C7tui- (-Cut^ C"iy(ru> ciut^ny .
iJt Cix TnZ' <f£Ayiru(u^ u^t^uiXe^ 'f^t^ 'e/v Je^ eA'
if^ CiA^i^;^ ct^i^i^ /t<un. /-cv &veA^,
Reproduced from Picbie s History of the Flag
94
A SONG FOR FLAG DAY
Your Flag and my Flag!
And how it flies to-day
In your land and my land
And half a world away!
Rose-red and blood-red
The stripes forever gleam;
Snow-white and soul-white —
The good forefather's dream;
Sky-blue and true blue, with stars to gleam aright —
The gloried guidon of the day; a shelter through the night.
Your Flag and my Flag!
And, oh, how much it holds —
Your land and my land —
Secure within its folds!
Your heart and my heart
Beat quicker at the sight;
Sun-kissed and wind-tossed,
Red and blue and white.
The one Flag — the great Flag — the Flag for me and you —
Glorified all else beside — the red and white and blue!
Your Flag and my Flag!
To every star and stripe
The drums beat as hearts beat
And fifers shrilly pipe!'
Your Flag and my Flag —
A blessing in the sky;
Your hope and my hope —
It never hid a lie!
Home land and far land and half the world around,
Old Glory hears our glad salute and ripples to the sound!
Wilbur D. Nesbit
THE FLAG GOES BY
Hats off !
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
A flash of color beneath the sky:
Hats off !
The flag is passing by !
Blue and crimson and white it shines
Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines.
Hats off !
The colors before us fly;
But more than the flag is passing by.
Sea-fights and land-fights, grim and great,
Fought to make and to save the state :
Weary marches and sinking ships;
Cheers of victory on dying lips;
Days of plenty and years of peace;
March of a strong land's swift increase.
Equal justice, right, and law,
Stately honor and reverend awe.
Sign of a nation, great and strong
To ward her people from foreign wrong.
Pride and glory and honor, — all
Live in the colors to stand or fall.
Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;
And loyal hearts are beating high :
Hats off !
The flag is passing by !
Henry Holcomb Bennett
95
GOD SAVE THE FLAG!
Washed in the blood of the brave and the blooming,
Snatched from the altars of insolent foes,
Burning with star-fires, but never consuming,
Flash its broad ribbons of lily and rose.
Vainly the prophets of Baal would rend it.
Vainly his worshipers pray for its fall;
Thousands have died for it, millions defend it,
Emblem of justice and mercy to all:
Justice that reddens the sky with her terrors,
Mercy that comes with her white-handed train.
Soothing all passions, redeeming all errors.
Sheathing the sabre and breaking the chain.
Borne on the deluge of old usurpations.
Drifted our Ark o'er the desolate seas.
Bearing the rainbow of hope to the nations,
Torn from the storm-cloud and flung to the breeze!
God bless the Flag and its loyal defenders,
While its broad folds o'er the battle-field wave.
Till the dim star-wreath rekindle its splendors.
Washed from its stains in the blood of the brave!
Oliver Wendell Holmes
THE NAME OF OLD GLORY
1898
Old Glory! say, who.
By the ships and the crew.
And the long, blended ranks of the Gray and the Blue, —
Who gave you, Old Glory, the name that you bear
With such pride everywhere.
As you cast yourself free to the rapturous air.
And leap out full length, as we're wanting you to ? —
Who gave you that name, with the ring of the same,
And the honor and fame so becoming to you ?
Your stripes stroked in ripples of white and of red.
With your stars at their glittering best overhead —
By day or by night
Their delightfulest light
Laughing down from their little square heaven of blue!
Who gave you the name of Old Glory — say, who —
Who gave you the name of Old Glory ?
The old banner lifted, and faltering then
In vague lisps and whispers fell silent again.
96
Old Glory, — speak out! We are asking about
How you happened to "favor" a name, so to say,
That sounds so familiar and careless and gay,
As we cheer it, and shout in our wild, breezy way —
We — the crowd, every man of us, calling you that —
fVe, Tom, Dick, and Harry, each swinging his hat
And hurrahing "Old Glory!" like you were our kin.
When — Lord! — we all know we're as common as sin!
And yet it just seems like you humor us all
And waft us your thanks, as we hail you and fall
Into line, with you over us, waving us on
Where our glorified, sanctified betters have gone.
And this is the reason we're wanting to know
(And we're wanting it so!
Where our own fathers went we are willing to go)
Who gave you the name of Old Cilorv — O-ho! —
Who gave you the name of Old Glory ?
The old fag unfurled with a billowy thrill
For an instant; then wistfully sighed and was still.
Old Glory: the story we're wanting to hear
Is what the plain tacts ot your christening were, —
For your name — just to hear it,
Repeat it, and cheer it, 's a tang to the spirit
As salt as a tear:
And seeing you fly, and the boys marching by.
There's a shout in the throat and a blur in the eye,
And an aching to live tor you always — or die.
If, dying, we still keep you waving on high.
And so, by our love
For vou, floating above,
And the scars of all wars and the sorrows thereof".
Who gave you the name of Old Glory, and why
Are we thrilled at the name of Old Glory?
T hen the old banner leaped, like a sail in the blast.
And fluttered an audible answer at last.
And it spake, with a shake of the voice, and it said : —
By the driven snow-white and the living blood-red
Of my bars, and their heaven of stars overhead —
By the symbol conjoined of them all, skyward cast,
As I float from the steeple, or flap at the mast,
Or droop o'er the sod where the long grasses nod, —
My name is as old as the glory ot God.
So I came by the name of Old Glory.
James Whitcomb Riley
Copyright, J&gS, hy the author
97
CAPTAIN MOLLY AT MONMOUTH
On the bloody field of Monmouth flashed the guns of Greene and Wayne;
Fiercely roared the tide of battle, thick the sward was heaped with slain.
Foremost, facing death and danger, Hessian horse and grenadier,
In the vanguard, fiercely fighting, stood an Irish cannoneer.
Loudly roared his iron cannon, mingling ever in the strife.
And beside him, firm and daring, stood his faithful Irish wife;
Of her bold contempt ot danger, Greene and Lee's brigade could tell,
Every one knew "Captain Molly," and the army loved her well.
Surged the roar of battle round them, swiftly flew the iron hail;
Forward dashed a thousand bayonets that lone battery to assail;
From the foeman's foremost columns swept a furious fusilade.
Mowing down the massed battalions in the ranks of Greene's brigade.
Faster and taster worked the gunner, soiled with powder, blood, and dust;
English bayonets shone before him, shot and shell around him burst;
Still he fought with reckless daring, stood and manned her long and well,
Till at last the gallant fellow dead beside his cannon fell.
With a bitter cry of sorrow, and a dark and angrv frown,
Looked that band of gallant patriots at their gunner stricken down.
"Fall back, comrades! It is folly to strive against the foe."
"Not so!" cried Irish Molly, "we can strike another blow!"
Quickly leaped she to the cannon in her fallen husband's place,
Sponged and rammed it fast and steady, fired it in the foeman's face.
Flashed another ringing volley, roared another from the gun;
"Boys, hurrah!" cried gallant Molly, "for the flag of Washington!"
Greene's brigade, though shorn and shattered, slain and bleeding half their men.
When they heard that Irish slogan, turned and charged the foe again;
Knox and Wayne and Morgan rally, to the front they forward wheel,
And before their rushing onset Clinton's English columns reel.
Still the cannon's voice in anger rolled and rattled o'er the plain,
Till there lay in swarms around it mingled heaps of Hessian slain.
"Forward! charge them with the bayonet!" 'twas the voice of Washington;
And there burst a fierv greeting from the Irishwoman's gun.
Monckton falls; against his columns leap the troops of Wayne and Lee,
And before their reeking bayonets Clinton's red battalions flee;
Morgan's rifles, fiercely flashing, thin the foe's retreating ranks.
And behind them, onward dashing, Ogden hovers on their flanks.
Fast they fly, those boasting Britons, who in all their glory came,
With their brutal Hessian hirelings to wipe out our country's name.
Proudly floats the starry banner; Monmouth's glorious field is won;
And, in triumph, Irish Molly stands beside her smoking gun.
William Collins
98
OUR FLAG
High above! High above,
Floats the standard that we love,
Starry emblem of our might.
Proudly borne in many a fight.
On the land and on the sea.
Borne along to victory.
Tyrants fear it, freemen cheer it.
As it floats! As it floats!
Its gay stripes lightly streaming,
And its stars brightly gleaming
From the sky ot its blue,
Mark the banner ot the true.
Let it wave! Let it wave!
'Neath its folds no cowering slave,
Ground to earth by tyrant power.
Waits the dawn of happier hour;
Under it ah men are free.
Breathing air of liberty,
We revere it, let us cheer it.
Cheer its stripes! Cheer its stars!
For its stripes breathe defiance,
And its stars speak alliance,
While its red and its white.
With the blue of truth unite.
HIGH ABOVE
Should a foe! Should a foe!
In his pride his strength to show,
On our shore presume to land,
Firm, undaunted, we will stand.
Shouting loud our freeman's cry.
Our proud standard waving high.
We will fight him, we will smite him,
Till he fly! Till he fly!
For stout hearts yield them never,
And strong arms conquer ever.
In defense of their sires,
And their altars, and their fires.
May it stand! May it stand!
Guardian o'er the happy land,
Where our sires forever broke
Haughty despot's iron yoke.
Flag of might and flag of right.
Patriots hail it with delight.
High we rear it, loud we cheer it.
Cheer its red, blue, and white!
For the North and South united,
And the East and West are plighted.
To be one evermore.
From the center to the shore.
P, H. McQuADE
OUR FLAG
Fling it from mast and steeple.
Symbol o'er land and sea
Of the life of a happy people.
Gallant and strong and free.
Proudly we view its colors.
Flag of the brave and true.
With the clustered stars and steadfast
bars.
The red, the white, and the
blue.
Flag of the fearless hearted.
Flag of the broken chain.
Flag in a day-dawn started,
Never to pale or wane.
Dearly we prize its colors,
With the heaven light breaking
through.
The clustered stars and the steadfast
bars,
The red, the white, and the blue.
Flag of the sturdy fathers.
Flag of the loyal sons.
Beneath its folds it gathers
Earth's best and noblest ones.
Boldly we wave its colors.
Our veins are thrilled anew;
By the steadfast bars, the clustered stars.
The red, the white, and the blue.
Margaret E. Sangster
99
NOTHING BUT FLAGS
Nothing but flags — but simply flags
Tattered and torn and hanging in rags;
Some walk by them with careless tread,
Nor think of the hosts of patriot dead
That have marched beneath them in days gone by,
With a burning cheek and a kindling eye,
And have bathed their folds with their life's young tide.
And, dying, blessed them, and, blessing, died.
Nothing but flags — yet, methinks, at night
They tell each other their tale of fright;
And spectres come, and their twin arms twine
'Round each standard torn, as they stand in line,
As the word is given, they charge; they form!
And the dim hall rings with the battle's storm!
And once again, through smoke and strife,
These colors lead to a nation's life.
Nothing but flags — yet, bathed with tears,
They tell of triumphs, ot hopes, of fears;
Of earnest prayers for the absent men,
Of the battlefield and the prison pen;
Silent, thev speak; and the tear will start
As we stand before them with throbbing heart,
And think of those who are not forgot;
Their flags came hither — but they came not.
Nothing but flags — yet we hold our breath
And gaze with awe at these types of death;
Nothing but flags — yet the thought will come,
The heart must pray though the lips are dumb.
They, are sacred, pure, and we see no stain
On those loved flags, which came home again;
Baptized in blood of our purest, best.
Tattered and torn, they are now at rest.
Moses Owen
The good ship Union's voyage is o'er,
At anchor safe she swings.
And loud and clear with cheer on cheer
Her joyous welcome rings:
Hurrah! Hurrah! it shakes the wave.
It thunders on the shore, —
One flag, one land, one heart, one hand,
One Nation evermore.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
I GO
SOME OFFICIAL UNITED STATES FLAGS
THE national flags hoisted at camps or forts are of the
following three sizes: The storm and recruiting flag,
measuring eight feet in length by four feet two inches
in width; the post flag, measuring twenty feet in length by ten
feet in width; the garrison flag, measuring thirty-six feet in
length by twenty feet in width (this flag is hoisted only on
holidays and great occasions). The union is one-third of the
length of the flag, and extends to the lower edge of the fourth
red stripe from the top.
Color and Flags for the President of the United States
Army regulations provide for the President of the
United States a silken color six feet six inches fly and four
feet on the pike eleven feet long. The head to consist of a
globe two inches in diameter, surmounted by an American
eagle alert about five and three-eighths inches high.
A five-pointed white star in each of the four corners, one
point upward ; in the center of the color is placed a large fifth
star, also of five points; inside of this large star is placed a
parallel star, separated from it by a band of white one and
one-half inches wide.
This inner star forms a blue field upon which is placed the
ofiicial coat of arms of the United States.
On the scarlet field, around the larger star, are other white
stars, one for each state.
There is also provided a flag of blue bunting, to be attached
to halliards fourteen and forty one-hundredths feet fly and ten
and twenty one-hundredths feet hoist, bearing in the center
the ofiicial coat of arms of the United States.
A launch flag, made of blue bunting, three and six-tenths
feet hoist, by five and thirteen one-hundredths feet fly, made
of blue bunting, and bearing in the center the oflicial coat of
arms of the LInited States, is also provided.
Color and Flags for the Secretary of War
The army regulations provide for a color for the Secretary
of War, made of scarlet banner silk, five feet six inches fly
lOI
and four feet four inches on the pike, having embroidered in
each corner a five-pointed white star, one point upward, and
bearing in the center, embroidered in colors, the official coat
of arms of the United States. A similar flag, of scarlet bunt-
The Battleship New York
ing, to be attached to halliards, measuring twelve feet fly and
six feet eight inches hoist, is also prescribed.
A launch flag, of scarlet bunting, bearing similar designs,
and measuring three and six-tenths feet by five and thirteen
one-hundredths feet, is also provided.
102
Similar colors and flags, except that they shall be made of
white banner silk and white bunting with scarlet stars, re-
spectively, are provided for the Assistant Secretary of War.
National Colors and Standards
The national colors carried by regiments of infantry, the
coast artillery corps (for h. q. of each artillery district),
and battalions of engineers, in battle, campaign, or occasions
of ceremony, are made ot silk and are live leet six inches fly
and four feet four inches hoist, mounted on pikes nine feet
long. The official designation of the organizations carrying
the same are engraved upon a silver band placed on the pike.
The field of the color is thirty inches long (from the pike
casing) and extends to the lower edge of the fourth red stripe
from the top.
The national standards carried by cavalry and field artillery
regiments in battle, campaign, or occasions of ceremony are
also made of silk and are four feet fly and three feet hoist,
mounted on lances nine feet six inches long.
The field of the standard is twenty-two inches long from
the lance casing and extends down to the lower edge of the
fourth red stripe from the top. The official designation of the
organizations carrying the same are engraved upon a silver
band placed on the lance.
"Service" national colors and standards made of bunting (or
other suitable material) and of the same dimensions as above
are also furnished for similar commands for use at drills and
on marches, and on all service other than battles, campaigns,
and occasions of ceremony.
The "service" national color is also prescribed for bat-
talions of Philippine scouts, for use on all occasions.
Flag of the Secretary of the Navy
The flag of the Secretary of the Navy is made in four
sizes, size No. i being fourteen and forty one-hundredths feet
fly and ten and twenty one-hundredths feet on the pike. It
has a blue field with a five-pointed w^hite star in each of the
four corners, one point upward, and a white anchor in the
center. The flag of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy
simply reverses the colors, having a white field with blue
stars and a blue anchor.
103
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THE AMERICAN FLAG
A REFERENCE LIST
BOOKS
Books of interest to school children are starred.
Valuable books of reference for teachers are double starred.
*
^'Campbell, Robert A. Our flag; or, The evolution of the
Stars and Stripes. Chicago, Lawrence, 1890. o. p.
Canby, George, and Balderston, Lloyd. Evolution of the
American flag. Philadelphia, Ferris & Leach, 1909. $1.
Champion, Mrs Sarah E. Our flag, its history and changes,
1620-1896. 2d ed. New York, Tuttle, 1896. 75c.
**Fallows, Samuel (ed.). Story of the x'\merican flag, with
patriotic selections and incidents. Chicago, Educational
Publication Company, 1905. 40c.
**Fow, John H. True story of the American flag. Philadel-
phia, Campbell, 1908. 50c.
Hale, Edward Everett. Man without a country. Various
editions.
Hamilton, Schuyler. History of the national flag of the
United States of America. Philadelphia, Lippincott,
1852. o. p.
**Harrison, Peleg D. The Stars and Stripes and other Ameri-
can flags, including their origin and history, army and
navy regulations concerning the national standard and
ensign, flag making, salutes, improvised, unique and
combination flags, flag legislation, and many associations
of American flags includino- the origin of the name "Old
Glory," with songs and their stories. Boston, Little,
Brown, 1906. ^3.
*Holden, Edward S. Our country's flag and the flags of
foreign countries. New York, Appleton, 1898. 80c.
**Hulme, Frederick E. Flags of the world; their history,
blazonry, and associations. New York, Warne, 1897. ^2.
**Preble, George H. History of the flag of the United States.
Boston, Houghton, Miflflin, 1893. $5. The standard
history of the flag.
*Smith, Nicholas. Our nation's flag in history and incident.
Milwaukee, Young Churchman Company, 1903. $i-
106
United States Equipment Bureau. Flags of maritime nations.
Washington, Government Printing Office, 1899. o. p.
Weaver, A. G. Story of our flag, colonial and national, with
a historical sketch of the Quakeress, Betsy Ross. Ed. 2.
Chicago, The Author, 1898. ^i.
MAGAZINE ARTICLES
The American flag. Outlook, February 25, 1899. 61:479.
Champion, Mrs Henry. American flag — the ensign of liberty.
journal of American History, January 1907. 1:9-16;
Connecticut Magazine, January 1907. 11 : 3-1 1.
Dwight, Theodore W. American flag and John Paul Jones.
Magazine of American History, October 1890. 24: 269-72.
Ellicott, John M. What the flags tell. St Nicholas, March
1895. 22:403-9. (Describes the international signal
code.)
Geare, Randolph I. Historic flags. New England Magazine,
August 1903. 34:702-10.
Griffis, William E. Where our flag was first saluted. New
England Magazine, July 1893. 14:576-85.
Hamilton, Schuyler. Our national flag, the Stars and Stripes,
its history for a century. Magazine of American History,
July 1877. I : 401-28.
Stars in our flag. Magazine of American History,
February 1888. 19: 150-53.
Hammond, Harold. Honors to the flag. St Nicholas, July
1906. 33- 77^-7^-
McEadden, Parmalee. Origin of our flag. St Nicholas, July
1903. 30:805-8.
Morgan, M. M. How "Old Glory" was named. A sketch of
the New England sea-captain who thus christened the
American flag. Harpers Weekly, December 18, 1909.
53:13-
Ogden, H. A. Our flag's first engagement. St Nicholas, July
1907. 34:831-34.
Tuffley, Edward W. Origin of the Stars and Stripes. St
Nicholas, November 1883. 11:66-71.
Varney, George j. Stars and Stripes, a Boston idea. New
England Magazine, July 1902. 32:539-48.
W^heelan, F. H. A house that was saved by the flag. St
Nicholas, July 1908. 35: 791-93. (How the flag saved
a house from burning in the San Francisco fire, 1906.)
107
Wilcox, H. K. W. National standards and emblems. Har-
pers Magazine, July 1873. 47:171-81.
Zeh, Lillian E. How the flags for our battleships are made.
Van Nordens Magazine, February 1908. 2: 123-28.
POEMS .AND STORIES OF THE FLAG
COLLECTIONS
Carrington, Henry B. Beacon lights of patriotism. New
York, Silver, Burdett, 1894. 72c.
Columbian selections. Philadelphia, Lippincott,
1892. 75c.
Eggleston, G. C. American war ballads and lyrics. 2v.
New York, Putnam, 1889. $1.50.
Matthews, J. Brander. Poems of American patriotism. New
York, Scribner, 1882. 50c.
Paget, R. L. Poems of American patriotism. Boston, Page,
1898. ^1.25.
Scollard, Clinton. Ballads of American bravery. New York,
Silver, Burdett, 1900. 50c.
Stevenson, Burton E. Poems of American history. Boston,
Houghton, MifHin, 1908. S3.
and Elizabeth B. Days and deeds: a book ot
verse. New York, Baker & Taylor, 1906. Si.
White, Richard Grant. Poetry of the Civil War. New York,
American News Company, 1866. o. p.
INDIVIDUAL POEMS
Poems in collections listed above are referred to by compiler and page only.
Bennett, Henry H. The flag goes by. See Paget, p. 45-
Boyle, Virginia F. The apron flag. Lee Harrison, p. 405-6.
Bunner, Henry C. The old flag. See his Poems, p. 92-93 ;
also abridged in Paget, p. 22.
Butterworth, Hezekiah. Festal day has come. See Shoe-
maker's best selections, number 20, p. 154-57.
Flag the emigrants cheered. See Carrington,
Columbian selections, p. 261-63.
Song of the flag. See Carrington, Columbian
selections, p. 260-61.
Carleton, Will. Language of the flag. See his Poems for
young Americans, p. 59-60.
Cawein, Madison. Under the Stars and Stripes. See Paget,
p. 246-47.
108
The Confederate flag. See White, p. 325-26.
Curtis, George W. American flag. See Fallows, p. 79-80.
Dorr, Henry. Spirit of the flag. See Scribner's Magazine,
June 1903. 33:700.
Drake, Joseph Rodman. American flag. See Matthews,
p. 102-5.
Guiterman, Arthur. Call to the colors. See Stevenson, Poems
of American history, p. 627-28; Paget, p. 297-99.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell. Union and liberty. See his Poems
(Camb. ed.), p. 198.
The flower of liberty. See his Poems (Camb. ed.),
p. 196-97.
God save the flag. See his Poems (Camb. ed.),
p. 194. ^ _
Howe, Julia Ward. The flag. See her Later lyrics, p.
24-28.
Irving, Minna. Betsy's battle flag. See Stevenson, Poems of
American history, p. 191-92.
Key, Francis Scott. Star spangled banner. See Eggleston,
p. 138-40; Matthews, p. 87-89; Paget, p. 85-87.
King, Horatio. Our beloved flag. See Magazine of American
History, August 1890. 24: 137-38.
Larcom, Lucy. The flag. See her Poems, p. 103 ; also Steven-
son, Days and deeds, p. 156-57.
Long, John D. The flag. See Harrison, Stars and Stripes,
p. XV.
Mapes, Victor. A story of the flag. St Nicholas, July 1892.
19: 643-46. (Adventures of tw^o American flags in Paris.)
Mitchell, S. Weir. Song of the flags on their return to the
States of the Confederacy. See Stevenson, Poems of
American history, p. 655.
Nesbit, Wilbur D. Your flag and my flag. See Sindelar, J.C,
Lincoln day entertainments, p. 26-27.
One beneath Old Glory. See Paget, p. 313.
Owen, Moses. Nothing but flags. See Campbell, p. 121-22.
Parker, Hubbard. Old flag. See Stevenson, Days and
deeds, p. 160-61.
Proctor, Edna D. Columbia's banner. See her Songs of
America, p. 6-10.
The Stripes and the Stars. See Paget, p. 128.
Raymond, George L. Hail the flag. See his Ballads and
poems, p. 160-62.
109
Raymond, R. W. Banner of the stars. See Paget, p. 140-41
Reid, Thomas Buchanan. Flag ot the constellation. See
Eggleston, p. 186-87.
Richards, Laura E. Our colors. See George, Marian M.,
The plan book. Spring-intermediate, p. 1294.
Riley, James Whitcomb. Name of Old Glory. See his Home
folks, p. 4-7.
M. W. S. The flag. See Paget, p. 37-38.
Shaw, David T. Columbia the gem of the ocean. See Paget,
p. 4-5.
Smith, Dexter. Our national banner. See Stevenson, Poems
of American history, p. 578.
Smith, Samuel Francis. America. See his Poems of home
and country, p. 77-78.
Wave the flag on high. See his Poems of home
and country, p. 156.
Stanton, Frank L. Old flag forever. See Paget, p. 36.
Street, Alfred B. Return of the flags of the volunteer regi-
ments to their states. See Campbell, p. 125-26.
Stryker, M. W. Every star a story. See Smith, N., p. 186-87.
Thompson, Maurice. An incident of the war. See Scollard,
p. 99-101.
Trowbridge, John T. The color-bearer. See his Poetical
works, p. 38-39.
Wells, Mary. For the flag. St Nicholas, July 1908.
35:771-76.
Whittier, John Greenleaf. Barbara Frietchie. See his
Poetical works, various editions.
Wilder, John N. Stand by the flag. See Bellamy, B. W. &
Goodwin, M. W., Open sesame, 2:4-5.
Woodman, Horatio. The flag. See White, p. 5-6.
no
«EW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARt
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
T
HE original drawings for the cover
design, for the lining pages and for
the illustrations on pages lo, 12, 13, 17,
19, 23 and 60 in this book were made
by Mr Royal Bailey Farnum of the State
Education Department.
npHE typography, engravings, presswork
and Isinding were executed jointly by
The Matthews-Northrup Works, of Buf-
falo, and the J. B. Lyon Company, of
Albany.
